IRDAI creates a panel to streamline insurance policy phrasing

A committee was established by regulator IRDAI to streamline insurance policy wording and assist consumers in making educated decisions before to purchasing coverage. Within eight to ten weeks, the eight-member group is expected to offer its recommendations.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) stated in a circular that because insurance policy contracts contain complicated terminology, policyholders frequently struggle to understand the terms and conditions.

In an office directive on the "Committee for Plain Language for Policy Wordings," IRDAI stated that this leads to policyholders becoming confused while they are buying an insurance policy.

"IRDAI is committed to insurance for all 2047 to attain this objective, efforts are being made towards creating a progressive, supportive, facilitative and forward-looking regulatory architecture to foster a conducive and competitive environment leading to wider choice, accessibility and affordability to policyholders," it stated.

The panel has been asked to review the current wording of the insurance policy and recommend "simple and plain" language that is both enforceable and compliant with the law. One further term of reference assigned to the panel is "Suggest simple policy wordings that clearly specify obligations and responsibilities of each of the parties to the contract".

It has also been requested to provide easily legible and understandable specifications, such as typefaces, for written content and how it is presented for both print and electronic documents.