Hyderabad:

IRDAI Chairman TS Vijayan said the much awaited new insurance broking regulations would be unveiled  `very soon’ as they have already been sent for publication in the government gazette. 

 

"About ownership, partnership, all these things are coming up. Minor changes, but it will be helping the brokers," he added.

On the growth and contribution of insurance broking, Vijayan said of insurance broking sector contributed around Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 1.28 lakh crore of non-life insurance premium last year. 

 

Addressing the delegates at the annual conference of insurance brokers and speaking to journalists later on the sidelines in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Vijayan further said the goods and services tax (GST) regime and Demonetisation (DeMo) will also help the insurance industry's growth. 

 

The Indian insurance sector is set to witness significant growth as well as regulatory challenges from the growing digitisation and technology adoption, said Vijayan, 

"These two steps (GST and DeMo) have led to formalisation of economy. When formalisation happens, it helps industry like insurance," said the IRDA chairman. "Growth in economy will help propel the insurance industry also to grow." 

 

"Lot more people are coming into the formal sector for doing business from the informal sector," said Vijayan, adding that it was bound to benefit the formal sectors like insurance. 
 

He said that the market is set to witness significant growth and the growth would be seen in all segments, including motor, life and medical.He said: "Future growth will come in all the industries. Just look at the number of vehicles that are manufactured in India.

 

Adoption of technology and internalising digitisation of insurance processes for the benefit of customers will be some of the regulatory challenges, he said, adding that digitisation will help reducing cost of insurance products and develop customised products through data analytics. 

 

"Pricing (of insurance products) will be better" and "products needed for customers will be coming out of analytics platform." 

 

While the growth of India insurance industry was encouraging after opening up sector and insurance penetration reaching around 4%, the sector could see more growth coming from areas such as motor, health and life insurance going forward, he said. 

With rapid penetration of internet and smartphones in India, insurance sector will also see increased adoption of technology, requiring the insurance broking channels also to undergo major digital transformation, said IRDA chairman. 

 

The Indian insurance sector may soon see insurance training through not just online but also through App based platforms and social media, he said, advising the stakeholders to get prepared for settlement of claims through such technology platforms. 

 

The Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI) president Sanjay Kedia said a study by EY India projected non-life insurance premium to reach Rs 4 lakh crore with broking channels contributing around Rs 1.6 lakh crore on a conservative basis. He viewed that allowing broking sector to assist in insurance premium collections and claims disbursement in India, similar to developed markets, will bring in more efficiencies.