The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the government agency charged with overseeing the country’s insurance market, recently announced that it has extended the deadline for insurance companies to withdraw non-compliant microinsurance products from their portfolios to March 31, 2016.
The reason for the extension is that too few microinsurance products had been filed for examination before the original deadline of January 1. The extension allows companies to adjust and file their microsinsurance products rather than being forced to remove them from the market abruptly.
As of March 2015, the number of microinsurance agents stood at approximately 21,000. Of these 19,400 work with the Life Insurance Corporation of India. The remaining 1,600 offer non-life insurance products via various insurers. Regional banks, microfinance institutions and microentrepreneurs are among those eligible to act as microfinance agents.
By Kevin van den Brink, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) is the agency that oversees the insurance industry in India. Formed by parliament in 1999, the mission of IRDAI is “to protect the interests of the policyholders” and “to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry.” As of March 2015, the number of microinsurance agents stood at approximately 21,000. Of these 19,400 work with the Life Insurance Corporation of India. The remaining 1,600 offer non-life insurance products. Regional banks, microfinance institutions and microentrepreneurs are among those eligible to act as microfinance agents.
[1] IRDAI, News, “IRDAI Extends Deadline for Microinsurance Compliance”
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