Hyderabad:
The IRDAI in its second tranche of approvals related to innovative product proposals from Non-Life, Life and Intermediaries segments , under the Regulatory Sandbox plans, has allowed 16 products from five general insurers and three life insurers.
The period of approval for the new rannge of products is from 1st May, 2020 to 31st, October, 2020.
This is for the first time Regulatory Sandbox proposals from life insurers have been approved as in the first tranche, the regulator had only allowed such proposals from only general insurance companies. .
Among the general insurance companies, TATA AIG General Insurance company has received apporovals for the largest number of proposals including “Credit Insurance for TReDS Platform'', “Loss limit Insurance'',“Parametric Insurance'',“Standalone Own Damage Agreed Value Two Wheeler Policy.''
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has got approval for its two proposals “V-Pay Motor Insurance Product'' and “Total Business Protection''.
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“Total Business Protection’ is an umbrella solution to the evolving needs of commercial entities. This product aims to provide a complete protection to commercial entities by providing an All Risk Cover option for structure and contents, unlike the standard package products, which are subject to fine print. This policy also offers to cover structure on agreed value basis if the insured occupancy is multi-storey or multi-occupancy and the contents can be covered on new for old basis and first loss basis, which are a very unique set of features.It is our endeavour to remove the fine print from the policy in line with our ‘Caringly yours’ philosophy and we will continue to innovate around this,” said Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance,
ICICI Lombard General Insurance, the largest private sector general insurance company has got approval for just one product,“Trade Credit Insurance for SME'' while Reliance General Insurance has also managed to get approcval for its sole product,“Livelihood Protection''.IRDAI has also cleared Go Digit's one product,“Network based Accidental Insurance for Rented Motor Vehicle''.
For the first time, ICICI PruLife Insurance has received approvals for its products like “Loyalty program'',“Health Savings'',“Outpatient Health cover'',“Disease management and “Dynamic term cover’’.
Madhu Burugupalli, head Products, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company,said,“The Sandbox initiative of IRDAI is unique as it allows for testing and fine tuning innovative concepts before going to market in a big way. We believe this will aid in increasing penetration of life insurance. These are the first set of approvals for the life insurance industry. We have always focussed on innovating to add value to customers and these approvals should help us in this journey of ours.“
Similarlly, India First Life Insurance has got approval for its sole product “Loyalty program’’ while HDFC Life Insurance has also received approval for its sole product “Health India Account''.
Rushabh Gandhi, deputy CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance,“We are elated that our sandbox proposal – Loyalty Program – has been approved by the IRDAI. IndiaFirst Life believes that Indian consumers will be motivated to avail a life insurance policy that rewards them in form of discounted premium for following a healthy lifestyle. Our sandbox proposal does exactly that.Furthermore, at the end of the Sandbox period, customers will have an option to either convert the policy to a standard life insurance plan or to discontinue the policy. If they opt to convert the policy to a standard life insurance plan, they will be eligible for a discounted premium assuming the defined activity criteria has been met. We truly believe that this is a pathbreaking concept and will change the way life insurance is both, bought and sold, in the Indian context.''
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In the first tranche, 33 products of non-life and health insurers were approved for testing. Some of these included fitness tracker, app-based diabetes wellness programme, wearable devices for existing customers and new customers and wellness programme using trackers.
The products by the insurers would be launched only as a pilot and the period for launch and completion is from February 1, 2020 to 31st July 2020.
Regulatory sandbox refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.The Regulatory Sandbox approach can be used to carve out a safe and conducive environment to experiment with innovative approaches (including Fin-Tech solutions), and where the consequences of failure, if any, can be contained, the regulator had said.
For the Regulatory Sandbox, an applicant should have a net worth of Rs 10 lakh and a proven financial record of at least one year.