IRDAI asks insurers to adopt states to boost reach

IRDAI has asked Insurance companies to take a leaf from the banking industry’s strategy for inclusion by companies adopting individual states as lead insurers. IRDAI has also set goals in terms of insurance penetration for the life and non-life industry.

IRDAI chairman Debashish Panda held the first of his proposed bi-monthly meeting with insurance chiefs — Bima Manthan — recently in Hyderabad. In the meeting, insurers were guided to increase the growth rate and were individually provided indicative targets along with unique states and UTs to lead on. In the meeting, the Insurance Information Bureau made a presentation on enhancing its role and also its corporatisation. The IIB was set up by the insurance regulatory and registered as an independent society under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Act. It is a repository of industry data and provides benchmarks for insurance companies.

Under the lead bank model, a bank coordinates the efforts of all lenders in an allocated area and engages with the local administration and state government and address local concerns. This was introduced at the time of nationalisation of banks to fulfil their social objectives.