`Envisaged not merely as a data repository, but as an innovation platform and a strategic investment in national economic infrastructure, the PIR will strengthen consumer protection, market efficiency, insurance coverage and supporting the next generation of insurance reforms.It has the potential to lower information barriers, promote competition and enable market participants to differentiate through product innovation, pricing, service quality and customer experience,” said the IRDAI.
Hyderabad:The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), on Tuesday, released a consultation paper on the proposed Public Insurance Registry (PIR), envisaged as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in a significant step towards building a more connected, transparent, efficient and resilient insurance ecosystem, with trusted information serving as a foundation for better protection, innovation and public value.
“Envisaged not merely as a data repository, but as an innovation platform and a strategic investment in national economic infrastructure, the PIR will strengthen consumer protection, market efficiency, insurance coverage and supporting the next generation of insurance reforms.It has the potential to lower information barriers, promote competition and enable market participants to differentiate through product innovation, pricing, service quality and customer experience,” said the IRDAI.
It draws encouragement from the success and lessons from DPIs in other sectors of Indian economy and this is in furtherance to the objectives of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act,2025, added the IRDAI.
IRDAI has explained that PIR is a population-scale, interoperable and non-exclusionary digital public infrastructure for the insurance sector, with the objectives of facilitating growth and inclusion, building trust and transparency, and promoting affordability and financial sustainability. The proposed infrastructure is intended to enable technology, governance and market participation to work together towards wider and deeper financial resilience.
`PIR seeks to address information and interoperability gaps by establishing a consistent and authoritative view of insurance records, while enabling appropriate information to remain with the relevant source institutions. The PIR would enable easier product discovery and comparison, a consolidated view of policies across insurers, reduced documentation, improved servicing and claims experiences, and easier identification of unclaimed amounts,” elaborated IRDAI.
The envisioned use cases span across eight stakeholders including:
-Public, Policyholders, Prospects can compare products, verify insurers and intermediaries, get cost-efficient product for direct purchase, view policies and claims, and discover benefits or unclaimed amounts easily.
-Insurers can identify protection gaps, improve product design, underwriting, pricing, claims and customer service, and reduce operating & regulatory-reporting friction.
-Reinsurers can use standardized exposure, loss and catastrophe insights to improve pricing, accumulation monitoring, capital allocation and risk-transfer capacity.
-Intermediaries can access comparable product information, use verified data for faster onboarding and servicing, and improve suitability, conduct and sales quality.
-Regulator(s) can monitor protection gaps and customer outcomes, strengthen conduct & early-warning supervision, and reduce reporting friction through standardised interfaces.
6. Financial Institutions can verify policy ownership and collateral cover, use insurance signals in lending, and strengthen borrower-risk and portfolio assessment.
-Government departments & agencies can use coverage-gap and scheme insights, support sector analysis, and strengthen public policy, programme monitoring and resilience planning.
-Researchers & think tanks can access approved anonymised datasets, analyse insurance trends and protection gaps, and generate evidence for policymaking & market development.
The consultation paper on PIR has been conceived through a user-centric approach, anchored in the needs and challenges of diverse stakeholders across the insurance ecosystem. It seeks to translate these needs into tangible outcomes by enabling more seamless, transparent and data-driven insurance journeys and decision-making. These use cases are presently at a conceptual stage and will be further developed into detailed functional and technical specifications as PIR progresses towards implementation.
The consultation is intended to ensure that the scope, design and implementation of PIR evolve through informed and wide-ranging stakeholder participation.
Comments and suggestions have been invited from the public and stakeholders on the proposed framework, including its objectives, use cases, data architecture, identity framework, data standards, privacy and consent safeguards, commercial confidentiality, governance, implementation readiness and transition arrangements.
The last date for submission of comments and feedback is 30th September.