The Hindu Business Line : Tariff advisory body plans to network with crime, traffic database

Data connect
TAC plans to establish data links with National Crime Records Bureau, traffic police, road transport organisations in all States and Union Territories.

K. Ram Kumar

Mumbai, Jan. 3 Inter-state gangs which thrive on stolen vehicles may find the going tough if the Tariff Advisory Committee’s plan to establish seamless connectivity with the databases of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the traffic police and road transport organisations in all States and Union Territories succeeds.

TAC’s proposed move is aimed at helping non-life insurance companies verify the status of vehicles, stolen or otherwise, and their recovery status. Based on this verification, non-life companies will be able to take decisions on underwriting and processing/repudiating claims without much ado.

This move by TAC, which is the designated insurance data repository for all lines of non-life insurance business in India, to hook-up with the traffic police, RTO and the NCRB, would not only smash the ‘cottage industry’ in stolen vehicles, spawned by those operating well-oiled inter-state racket, but also ensure that insurance companies do not end up providing insurance cover for stolen vehicles.

According to various reports, almost 60,000-70,000 insured vehicles have been reported as stolen with authorities across the country. Further, 30-40 per cent of the estimated 8.5 crore vehicles are believed to be uninsured.

The 20 non-life insurance companies operating in the country had established linkage with the TAC last year in order to identify and verify vehicles based on three parameters — chassis, engine, and registration numbers. They can run a web-based search for insured vehicles by logging on to the TAC Web site.

“Non-life insurance companies are submitting data pertaining to insured motor vehicles to us at the end of each year. We are building up our repository system gradually. Down the line, we will be linking up with the databases of relevant State motor transport authorities. Non-life insurance companies will find it advantageous once the online linkage is established,” said Mr P.K. Swain, Deputy General Manager, TAC. The TAC is currently in the process of uploading data, which has been sourced from all non-life insurance companies, pertaining to insured vehicles for the financial year 2007-08. It is already hosting data pertaining to the previous financial year.

“Banks have ‘Know Your Customer’ norms as part of their customer identification procedure for opening accounts and monitoring transactions of a suspicious nature. So, a ‘Know Your Vehicle’ dispensation for non-life insurance companies to identify and verify vehicles is in order so that they do not fall prey to fraudulent claims,” said a senior official with a general insurance company.

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