The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) approved the launch of Bima Sugam, an online marketplace that will house all companies selling life and non-life insurance on a single platform w.e.f. January 1, 2023.
About Bima Sugam Portal:
i.It will be an umbrella portal for all insurance needs, and services like buying insurance policies, portability facilities, change of insurance agents and settling of claims.
ii.It will provide all these facilities to policyholders with an e-insurance account (E-IA) wherein they can view their policies and file a claim.
iii.Web aggregators (such as PolicyX, PolicyBazaar, etc.), brokers (such as Bajaj Capital, Probus Insurance Broker, etc.), banks and insurance agents will act as facilitators in selling insurance policies.
Key Points:
i.The key stakeholders in Bima Sugam are going to be Life Insurance Council (30%), General Insurance Council at (30%), Online PSBs-Public Sector Banks (35%) and Brokers Association (5%).
ii.It will have linkages with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL), the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and more.
iii.The platform will help reduce commissions paid to intermediaries.
iv.Irdai has proposed that an insurer can give a discount on premiums for the policies purchased directly through this platform.
IRDAI offers more flexibility to General Insurance Companies
IRDAI has offered more flexibility to general insurance companies in designing and pricing of products under miscellaneous segment and allowed them to launch these in the market without prior regulatory approval.
- This decision was taken as a part of IRDAI’s endeavour to boost ease of doing business.
Key Points:
i.Earlier, the products with a sum assured above Rs 5 crore can be launched without prior approval of IRDAI but regulatory approval before launching products with sum assured up to Rs 5 crore was required
ii.Now, IRDAI said that it has extended the ‘Use and File’ procedure, i.e. launching insurance products without prior approval, to all categories.
iii.The miscellaneous insurance under the general insurance segment is a segment which requires creative conceptualization in order to cater to the ever-evolving needs of the policyholders.
Recent Related News:
i.On August 3, 2022, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has amended its master circular on investments, and allowed insurers to buy more perpetual bonds issued by banks and permitted them to participate in the public listing of high-yielding InvITs (Infrastructure Investment Trusts).
ii.IRDAI is set to launch the upgraded version of Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGMS), as ‘Bima Bharosa’, an updated version of the grievance redressal mechanism.
About Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI):
Chairman– Debasish Panda
Headquarters– Hyderabad, Telangana
Establishment– 1999
