IRDAI proposes to make issue of insurance policies in demat form mandatory

Insurance regulator has proposed mandatory issuance of all insurance policies in electronic form. A senior insurance executive confirmed the development and said that this will be done through Insurance Repository (IR) system.

“All stakeholders have agreed. We expect the notification to be issued soon,” he added. Separately, IRDAI may also make sharing know-your customer or KYC details mandatory while purchasing a general insurance policy.

At present there are four insurance repositories – NSDL National Insurance Repository, CDSL Insurance Repository Ltd, Karvy Insurance Repository Ltd, CAMS Insurance Repository Services Ltd. Dematerialisation essentially means converting physical documents into online format.

The move to dematerialize insurance policies is an attempt to promote further digitisation, and consolidation of records for benefits of policyholders, the above quoted executive said. “This may get applicable for new policies by December this year, or January 2023. For existing policies the deadline to dematerialise them will be December 2023,” he added.