Debasish Panda,Chairman, IRDAI
” Insurers need to further to further collaborate with insurtechs more. I would also expect insurers to engage with the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) more closely to make it a more vibrant body where they actually become the data analytics centre,” he said
Mumbai:
Insurance regulator Irdai has given licences to two life insurers for the first time since 2012 and is looking at around 20 more applications, its Chairman Debasish Panda said on Wednesday.
However, it had given a few licenses for new general insurers since 2017.
The latest to get life insurance licenses are Credit Access Life and Acko Life and earlier Kshema General Insurance was given a license, Panda said, adding the regulator is looking at around 20 more applications.
This is the first time two new life insurance licenses have been given since 2011.There are 23 life insurers and 33 general players operating in the country now.
The industry closed February with an AUM of Rs 59 lakh crore with a premium of Rs 10 lakh crore, a growth of 16 per cent.
Addressing an insurance event organised by industry lobby body FICCI, the regulator asked the industry to take the ”Insurance for All by 2047” mandate not as a slogan but as a call to action and expressed confidence that the stated target could be met well before the deadline.
To attain this, the industry has to be innovative and adopt more and more technologies so that they can develop more and more products that are seamlessly accessible and affordable to the vast majority of the uninsured/underinsured.
And for this to happen one needs to connect the missing links in the last-mile delivery.
”And I feel one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to engage the Asha and Anganwadi workers. You can also engage millions of women in the self-help groups,” Panda said adding that companies should strategise and plan to reach the last mile and and also use state government resources to reach villages and districts than focusing on large states..
“We need to map and get to each village, district, etc and reach the last mile different states, villages and districts. This will be an investment for resilience of our society. We must deliver what we promise. Insurance for All is not just a slogan but a call to action. Access to insurance should be as easy as buying a packet of milk,” Panda said.
Tech-driven innovation can also bring down the cost of products and product deliveries. What the industry should do is to do an encore of what bankers have been doing in the area of financial inclusion, he observed.
” Insurers need to further to further collaborate with insurtechs more. I would also expect insurers to engage with the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) more closely to make it a more vibrant body where they actually become the data analytics centre,” he said.
“Technology and data are enablers for better underwriting. We have a dedicated dedicated core insurtechs team in IRDAI which is working towards making the sector the sector more techno-efficient,” he said.
The industry should also look at devising ways to insure the uninsured industry segments like the missions of small businesses which are the backbone of the economy. You should also develop products for say the gig workers, he said.
Panda also reiterated his call for more players, more capital and more distributors to make the dream of insuring all by the turn of 2047, when the nation will be celebrating a century of independence.