Irdai proposes to make issue of insurance policies in demat form mandatory

Insurance regulator has proposed mandatory issuance of all insurance policies in electronic form. A senior insurance executive confirmed the development and said that this will be done through Insurance Repository (IR) system.

"All stakeholders have agreed. We expect the notification to be issued soon," he added. Separately, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India or IRDAI may also make sharing know-your customer or KYC details mandatory while purchasing a general insurance policy.

At present there are four insurance repositories – NSDL National Insurance Repository, CDSL Insurance Repository Ltd, Karvy Insurance Repository Ltd, CAMS Insurance Repository Services Ltd. Dematerialisation essentially means converting physical documents into online format.


The move to de-materialiase insurance policies is an attempt to promote further digitisation, and consolidation of records for benefits of policyholders, the above quoted executive said. "This may get applicable for new policies by December this year, or January 2023. For existing policies the deadline to de materialise them will be December 2023," he added.

Another executive aware of the developments said that in a meeting held earlier this week, IRDAI asked insurers to fast track the process as it will add to customer convenience. "There are some legacy issues for large insurers and that is being addressed by before issuing final guidelines," he added.