The committee within 21 days will also explore and recommend on how to bring about synergies in the working and operations of Bima Vahak, Bima Vistaar and the digital platform – Bima Sugam
Hyderabad:
As the IRDAI is taking up various regulatory reforms towards achieving the objective of “Insurance for all”, it has formed an exhaustive panel under the chairmanship of Thomas M. Devasia, member (Non-Life) to suggest suitable women centric distribution channel Bima Vahak and products to focus on reaching untapped rural areas in the country.
The panel will develop and suggest affordable, accessible and comprehensive cover for rural population, on benefit based / parametric structure – Bima Vistaar – and recommend regulatory framework for the same purpose.
The committee within 21 days will also explore and recommend on how to bring about synergies in the working and operations of Bima Vahak, Bima Vistaar and the digital platform – Bima Sugam.
The panel will suggest a feasible model which will take the industry to achieve the objective of bridging the protection gap in the untapped areas, leveraging on the digital transformation into which the nation is moving today.
Some of the members of the panel are- Siddhartha Mohanty, MD, Life Insurance Corporation, Neerja Kapur, CMD, New India Assurance, Devesh Shrivastava, CMD GIC Re, N.S.Kannan, MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential LIC, Vibha Padalkar, MD & CEO, HDFC life insurance, Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard, Ritesh Kumar, MD & CEO, HDFC Ergo general insurance, Tapan Kumar Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz general insurance, Naveen Tahiliyani, MD, TATA AIA Life Insurance Company Hadi T Riachi, CEO, Swiss RE.
In order to facilitate availability of an affordable, simple but comprehensive cover to the untapped areas and rural population, it is necessary to understand the needs and requirements in those areas and formulate suitable risk cover and customised distribution channels who appreciate the market dynamics in such areas, said the IRDAI.
Field force in remote areas need to build trust of the local population, be more patient and persuasive to be able to explain the nuances of the need for risk cover. In this context a women centric distribution model emerges as an apt alternative, added the IRDAI.
Latest developments in the technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) can be also gainfully utilized by creating a digital platform to reach the last mile, explained the IRDAI.