IRDAI may extend testing period to 3 years under regulatory sandbox

IRDAI is mulling to extend testing of products under the regulatory sandbox mechanism to up to three years.

The IRDAI Chairman said all these initiatives will help in furthering the goal of insurance penetration and reaching out to more and more people.

“The insurtech ecosystem is raring to grow. At IRDAI we have already developed something called the regulatory sandbox mechanism where the proof of a concept is actually being allowed to be tested on the ground. We are informed that the regulatory sandbox has some shortcomings,” Debasish Panda, Chairperson, IRDAI said during a talk session.

As of now, the applicants under the regulatory sandbox mechanism can apply through cohorts.

“Here we now realise that this has to be a continuous process, the period for which they are allowed to test such products in the market is only limited to six months. We are now proposing to expand that period to even up to three years, particularly for life insurance products,” Panda said.

“Work is in progress and the insurtech players are raring to grow, they are all enthused, so technology is also coming in. Here we have to build-up our capacity to regulate them in a manner as far as the market product is concerned,” he said.