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Mumbai, Feb. 7 IRDA plans to launch a Web site this week dedicated to the grievance redressal of senior citizens, said Mr C.S. Rao, Chairman, IRDA.

The regulator had set up a committee last year to study health insurance concerns faced by senior citizens.

“There will be a separate officer who will handle grievances. The e-mail address and contact numbers of this officer will be placed on the Web site,” Mr Rao told presspersons on the sidelines of a global conference on actuaries.

The regulator has also told public sector companies that the hike in renewal health insurance premium for senior citizens should not exceed 75 per cent.

Mr Rao said that recommendations such as constituting a health insurance pool for senior citizens would take longer execute. “These are long-term recommendations and we would have to write to the Finance Ministry for approval. There are several questions that would have to be addressed like ‘who will administer the pool?,” he said.

Speaking earlier at the conference, Mr Rao said that the insurance industry was facing a severe shortage of actuaries and insurance personnel. He said that the Actuarial Society of India (ASI) should promote actuarial education in other institutes besides the ASI

India has around 250 actuaries of which only around 45-50 are in the country and fall within the bracket of the working age group.

Mr Rao said the industry needed to evolve a uniform definition for lapsation, first year premium and expenses so that comparison can be made across insurers.

The IRDA is conducting a study, headed by Dr R. Kannan, Member-Actuary, to understand the impact of lapsation.

Dr Kannan said that the group would study the impact of lapsation on solvency, expenses and perseverance of companies.

“Every company has a different definition for lapsation. After making the statistical adjustment, we will bring uniformity in our calculations,” Dr Kannan said.

The study is expected to be released in a month’s time.

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