The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (“IRDAI”) has issued guidelines for Life Insurers to expedite settlement of Life Insurance Claims for the victims of heavy rainfall and floods, primarily in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra:
Key Compliance Obligations:
1. Nominate a senior level officer (who would act as a nodal officer in the State) to liaise with the State administration in order to facilitate identification of policyholders among the deceased due to floods;
2. appoint a nodal officer in the affected District to liaise with the DM / District Administration. The contact particulars of such officers shall be conveyed to the Authority;
3. Initiate immediate action to ensure that all reported claims are registered and eligible claims are settled expeditiously;
4. A suitably simplified process / procedure including relaxations in the usual requirements (wherever feasible) may be considered to expedite claims settlement;
5. Details of offices / special camps and other public activities set up for the purpose may be publicized in the press, electronic media etc. to enable immediate filings of claims and the details thereof be sent to the Authority, immediately;
6. Owing to the pandemic, direct / indirect social contact is limited, all the Life Insurers are advised to encourage and motivate their policyholders/claimants to adopt e-modes, wherever possible for correspondence while intimating the claim and the procedure for filing all the relevant documents.
7. If Policyholders / claimants come to the office, follow the government directions regarding maintaining social distancing and proper sanitization. The staff must be duly sensitized to deal with policyholders / claimants with empathy and concern.
8. The insurance companies need to submit the State-wise Progress report & consolidated report on the claims settled to hemant.mourya@irdai.gov.in on a weekly basis before 12.00 PM. However, the PMJJBY claims data must be submitted separately while including the same in total claims.
Note: The format for data to be submitted State-wise and consolidated data for all States have been provided in Annexure-I of the attached Circular.
Source: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
