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In a move that can benefit lakhs of insurance agents, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is considering setting up of a grievance redress system for agents.
This was stated by T. S. Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA, at an interactive meet with various stakeholders in response to a question from an aggrieved agent, M.R.K. Reddy.
Reddy complained to the chairman that there was no recourse available for insurance agents in case of any issue with the insurers. “Aviva Life Insurance has deduced an amount as Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) but has not paid it to the Government. To whom should I complain?” he asked the regulator at a meeting last week.
Similarly, citing his own experience with ING Vysya Life, he alleged that insurers were illegally demanding money for issuing no-objection certificate which is mandatory if an agent wants to switch over to another insurer.
A senior IRDA official told Business Line that a separate system to handle complaints from agents would make sense given the large number of agents both in the life and non-life sectors working for 48 life and non-life insurers operating in the country.
There has been significant improvement in resolving customer-related grievance in the last couple of years after introduction of a call centre and real-time complaint monitoring system by the regulator.
As agents play an important role in business, they should also be provided a hassle-free functional environment for insurance growth, he added.
The issues for agents are many and varied. There are operational issues such as procedures to be followed in policy revivals. This makes things difficult for an agent who is answerable to the policyholder.
Similarly, attention is not being given to renewal business. They are chased till a new proposal is closed and after that little attention is paid.
“If there is a place where we could voice all these problems effectively, it augurs well for the entire insurance sector,” said Suri Sitaram, who has been an agent for last 28 years.
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