Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, May 16, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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Money & Banking
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Insurance IRDA favours ‘package’ policy covering different risks Manish Basu Kolkata, May 15 For the first time, a customer may get a comprehensive cover for health, personal accident and life insurance under a single policy agreement. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is in favour of allowing the policy, called an Open Architecture Product, as it would simplify for the customer the process of taking separate covers against different risks while making the premium more affordable, a senior IRDA official told Business Line. The product would significantly reduce the size of policy documents, he said, pointing out that the add-on premiums would also make business more lucrative for the insurance companies. The facility is already allowed in the microinsurance segment. “We are working on extending such innovations, still in the developmental stage, to the mainstream insurance segment as well,” the IRDA officer said, adding that no major change in regulation might be required for allowing the launch of the product. Currently, general and life insurance companies are not allowed to distribute each others’ products, which have separate underwriting norms. ‘nascent stage’According to informed sources in the industry, the Chennai-headquartered standalone health insurer Star Health and Allied Insurance Company is already working on the package product and is expected to launch it by the middle of this year after receiving requisite clearances from the regulator. “The policy is still at a very nascent stage,” Mr V. Jagannathan, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, said without giving further details. In the scheme, the general insurer would have to get into a distributional tie-up with a life insurance player to provide a one-year term life insurance cover as an add-on to a combined mediclaim and personal accident benefit. The company will issue the composite policy, collect the life insurance premium and transfer it to the life insurance partner, the sources said. Mr V. Ramasaamy, Chairman and Managing Director of the National Insurance Company, said, “The package product is quite possible in future as it would cover a policyholder from all uncertainties. We had formulated a similar product in the group insurance segment four-five years ago where life cover was offered along with property insurance against a home loan.” “Insurance companies have to explore these possibilities in order to exploit the synergies available,” Mr R. Kannan, Member (Actuary), IRDA, said. More Stories on : Insurance | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings
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