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If you are one of those who source insurance information from the Net, here is some good news.
From next month, the information one gets online will be more authentic, thanks to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) move to announce mandatory guidelines for online insurance information providers from next month.
“At present, the online insurance providers are doing a business of about Rs 150 crore. We expect this to catch up soon with the increasing use of Internet for buying insurance,” a senior IRDA official told Business Line here.
The Authority is of the view that there is a need to bring in uniformity in display of prices and key features of insurance products by the Web sites to protect the interests of clients.
Going forward, the online information providers (who are labelled as Web-aggregators by the IRDA) would have to be a company formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956.
The company should have a minimum net worth of not less than Rs 50 lakh at any time during the previous three consecutive years.
APPROVED PRODUCTS
Further, the Web-aggregators should only display information pertaining to insurance products and price comparisons of different insurers approved by the IRDA.
The display of premium rates and key features of the insurance products of all the insurers should be displayed separately.
“The price comparisons should be up-to-date and reflect a true picture of the products,” the official said.
To avoid any kind of ‘intentional wrong information', the Authority is going to mandate that there should be no referral arrangement with the insurer.
The registration of the Web-aggregator as an agent, corporate agent, micro insurance agent, third party administrator or an insurance broker would also not be allowed.
ELECTRONIC ISSUE
At present, a panel headed by Mr A. Giridhar, Executive Director, IRDA, is looking into various aspects of electronic issue of policies.
The panel is examining a wide range of issues such as a mechanism of electronic issue of policies, the legal implications, cost-benefit analysis and operational procedures, among others.
It is likely to submit its report soon.
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