The largest life insurer LIC has digitised all its policy records and has put all policies issued by it in electronic form or dematerialised form.

“Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has been digitising all its policy records and as on date all of LIC policy records have been digitised,” an official statement said.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had in 2011 issued guidelines asking companies to keep policies in electronic form for efficiency, transparency and cost reduction in maintaining insurance policy data.

Insurance repositories

For the purpose of keeping data in digital form, five insurance repositories (IRs) have been granted permission to maintain such electronic policies.

To protect the interest of the policyholders in keeping data in electronic format, IRDA has formulated strict norms for the repositories.

“The guidelines provide for various means to protect the interests of the customers by having strict norms for licensing, fit and proper criteria for the CEOs of the repositories and a two-stage licensing process,” the statement said.

Also, there are explicit norms for policyholders’ servicing, issuance of electronic policies, norms for opening and maintenance of electronic insurance accounts and operation of minors’ accounts.

Further, it also has provisions for grievance redressal, rights of policyholders to opt out and obligation to insurers.

Related Topics