India’s Leading BFSI Companies 2020

XLIX Re-insurance With a view to make India a hub for re-insurance, foreign re-insurers are allowed to open their branches in India. The authority has allowed 9 foreign reinsurance branches to operate in India and Lloyd India is operating with two syndicates. Authority has also allowed insurers/reinsurers to open their offices in international Financial service centers, Gujarat-SEZ for reinsurance business. Micro insurance In order to penetrate insurance to the lower income group and rural areas, IRDAI had issued micro insurance regulations in India. A platform for affordable insurance products was created and it can play its role of financial inclusion. Amendments made in Micro insurance act 2005, allowed District co-operative banks, Regional rural banks and Scheduled commercial banks were allowed to be appointed asMicro insurance agents and facilitating better penetration of Micro insurance policies. Regulatory development • Long-term third party motor insurance made mandatory for cars, bikes: The Supreme Court made it mandatory for all car owners to take three-year motor insurance cover and five-year cover for bikes, from September 1 2018. • Compulsory personal accident cover for owner-driver: Themandatory third-party insurance cover along with personal accident cover for vehicle owners-drivers has been unbundled. Personal accident cover, which was mandatory in every third-party insurance cover, will now be available as a standalone policy and you only need to buy it once, as opposed to for every vehicle you have owned earlier. • Proposal to trim health insurance exclusions: IRDAI released a report on standardisation of exclusions in the health insurance space. On one hand, this was intended to improve transparency in the sector, but on the other, there is a fear that riskier customers would be excluded from the system. • Life insurance plans to see makeover: In its draft regulations on life insurance products released in November 2019, IRDAI has said that companies will be able to offer flexible policy tenures for certain products. IRDAI said that insurers can design term, credit life andmicro-insurance products that have a range of policy tenures to choose from. However, these regulations would mean that insurers will have to withdraw existing products and re-launch new ones with appropriate features. • Ayushman Bharat launched: The government launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in September 2018. Under the scheme, also called Ayushman Bharat or Modicare, about 10 million families (50 million people) will get access to ` 5 lakh worth of health insurance free of cost. This will include families from lower income groups that fall under the socio-economic caste census (SECC) data of 2011. Dun & Bradstreet