The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.47 crore on HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company.
This is the highest-ever penalty imposed on any life-insurance company so far after opening up of the sector.
The fine has been imposed for various ‘violations’ including wrongful marketing expenses paid to corporate agents, use of unlicensed individuals and corporate agents to procure business, payment of death claims and deviation from norms on unit-linked insurance policies.
“A penalty of this nature is a regulatory necessity in order to impress upon the management of any insurance company that regulatory prescriptions have to be complied with at all times and failure to do so will entail appropriate regulatory action,’’ Mr J. Hari Narayan , Chairman, IRDA, said in an order issued on Thursday.
The penalty amount should be debited only to the shareholder’s account and no part of the same shall be debited to the policyholder’s account, the IRDA chief said.