5 top complaints of policyholders against their insurers: Govt reveals company-wise grievance data in Rajya Sabha

‘Insurer not disposed of the claim’ has been the top reason for insurance related complaints in the Financial Years 22-23, 23-24 and 24-25, as per information provided by the Finance Ministry in Parliament today (Tuesday, March 17, 2026). Quoting data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance, said that as many as 2,57,790 complaints were filed against insurers in the financial year 2024-25, up from 2,15,569 in FY 23-24 and 2,02,640 in FY 22-23.

Replying to an unstarred question asked by Medha Vishram Kulkarni, member of Parliament, in Rajya Sabha today, Chaudhary revealed that the other top four reasons why policy holders have filed their insurance related complaints to IRDAI are- claim repudiated without giving reasons, survival benefit is not paid, maturity benefit is not paid and the difference between assessed loss and amount settled by an insurer.

Top 5 reasons for complaints and its percentage to total complaints

S. No.	Particular	FY 2022–23	FY 2023–24	FY 2024–25
1	Insurer not disposed of the claim	15.2	13.99	15.07
2	Claim repudiated without giving reasons	3.15	5.34	6.54
3	Survival benefit is not paid	4.35	3.77	3.74
4	Maturity claim is not paid	3.48	3.49	2.96
5	Difference between assessed loss and amount settled by insurer	1.06	2.17	2.4

IRDAI data showing total number of complaints in three financial years

Year	Total complaints	Complaints towards claims & related issues	Claim-related complaints (% of total)	Complaints as % of total policies issued	% of complaints pertaining to private insurers
2024–25	2,57,790	1,26,412	49.04%	0.01%	56.67%
2023–24	2,15,569	1,00,996	46.85%	0.01%	51.63%
2022–23	2,02,640	84,009	41.45%	0.01%	49.85%

Company-wise grievances received in FY 22-23, 23-34 and 24-25

IRDAI data show that the regulator has received the highest number of complaints against Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Star Health And Allied Insurance Company Limited in all three financial years (FY 22-23, 23-34 and 24-25).

Here we present lists of top 10 companies against whom the highest number of insurance claim-related grievances have been received in the last three financial years.

Company-wise grievances received in FY 2024-25

Company	Insurance type	Complaints
Life Insurance Corporation of India	Life Insurance	74,104
Star Health And Allied Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	20,527
National Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	12,859
Care Health Insurance Limited	Non-Life Insurance	10,281
United India Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	10,126
Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	7,970
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	7,781
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	7,768
HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	7,326
The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	6,854

Company wise grievances received in FY 2023-24

Company	Insurance type	Complaints
Life Insurance Corporation of India	Life Insurance	80,963
Star Health And Allied Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	16,572
United India Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	7,183
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	6,597
Care Health Insurance Limited	Non-Life Insurance	6,494
HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	6,020
National Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	5,671
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	5,171
Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	5,165
Max Life Insurance Company Limited	Life Insurance	4,290

Company-wise grievances received in FY 2022-23

Company	Insurance type	Complaints
Life Insurance Corporation of India	Life Insurance	81,302
Star Health And Allied Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	12,465
National Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	6,310
United India Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	5,905
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	5,189
HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Ltd.	Non-Life Insurance	4,921
Care Health Insurance Limited	Non-Life Insurance	4,876
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited	Non-Life Insurance	4,598
SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.	Life Insurance	4,502
Max Life Insurance Company Limited	Life Insurance	4,203

Govt action on mis-selling of policies and pre-existing diseases

Kulkarni also asked if the government has reviewed clauses such as mis-selling and pre-existing disease.

Chaudhary replied that stipulations on mis-selling and pre-existing diseases have been reviewed. “The waiting period for pre-existing disease has been reduced to 3 years from the earlier 4 years vide IRDAI (Insurance Products) Regulations, 2024 notified on 22.03.2024,” said Chaudhary.

The minister said that in order to curb the mis-selling of financial products, IRDAI has taken the following steps-

1. Defined ‘mis-selling’ under IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests, Operations and Allied Matters of Insurers) Regulations, 2024.
2. Specified that the Board policy of the insurer shall dwell on the measures to curb misselling, force-selling and mis-leading sales.
3. Specified the mechanism to be put in place to avoid mis-selling of insurance policies.
4. Mandated suitability analysis for saving based Insurance Products and Annuity products except those sold to NPS subscriber(s).
5. Extended free look period: A uniform period of 30 days is made applicable for health and life insurance policies.

Corrective steps taken or proposed to ensure timely settlement of genuine claims and protect policyholders

Kulkarni also asked if the government has taken any corrective steps to ensure the timely settlement of genuine claims and protect policyholders.

Chaudhary replied that the government has taken various steps to ensure that insurance companies settle the claims in a timely manner.

Chaudhary said that to protect the interest of the policyholders, some of measure taken in this regard are as under:

• No claim shall be repudiated without the approval of Product Management Committee (PMC) or a three-member sub-group of PMC called the Claims Review Committee (CRC).
• No claim shall be rejected or closed for want of documents or for delayed intimation of claim.
• In case, the claim is repudiated or rejected or disallowed partially, details shall be communicated to the claimant along with full details giving reference to the specific terms and conditions of the policy document.
• Timelines for settlement of claims have been specified.

Further, in case of delay in settlement of claims, the insurers are required to pay penal interest from the date of intimation or due date of the claim, whichever is applicable, with the penal interest of bank rate plus 2%.