The Indian insurance industry is separated into two types: life insurance and non-life insurance. Non-life insurance is sometimes known as general insurance. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India regulates both life and non-life insurance. Life insurance businesses provide coverage for people's lives, whereas non-life insurance firms provide coverage for our daily lives, such as travel, health insurance, vehicle and bike insurance, and home insurance. Not only that, but non-life insurance firms cover our industrial equipment as well. Crop insurance for farmers, cell phone insurance, pet insurance, and other insurance products are being made available by general insurance companies in India. In recent years, life insurance firms have developed an investment prospectus to provide insurance while also increasing your money. Rising earnings, exponential expansion in purchasing power, and household savings will drive new trends in the Indian insurance industry, including product innovation, multi-distribution, improved claims administration, and regulatory changes. The future of India's life insurance market appears to be fairly bright and promising as a result of several regulatory developments. This would also have an impact on how insurers run their operations and interact with their customers.
Services Offered:
King Stubb & Kasiva has been representing several reputed corporate agents, brokers, surveyors, and third-party administrators in India and providing them a wide array of services. Our services encompass both advisories as well as litigation-related matters.
The Firm represents a broad range of clients that are involved with insurance, including:
Document Drafting
Drafting and recalibrating policy documents
Dispute Resolution
Setting up dispute resolution mechanism as well as handling litigation
Advisory
Advising clients on the procurement of licenses and approvals from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) and various other regulatory authorities.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India regulates insurance and reinsurance firms, as well as insurance intermediaries in India. The Insurance Act of 1938 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act of 1999 control the Indian insurance sector. The Insurance Act was amended by the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2021, and the Ministry of Finance issued the Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Amendment Rules 2021, which amended specific provisions of the Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Rules 2015 to expressly provide the norms applicable to insurance companies with foreign investment.
The applicant must be an Indian company formed under the Indian Companies Act of 1956. As a result, anyone wishing to conduct insurance business in India must establish a separate company. As shares in the application form, a foreign corporation may not own more than 26 percent of the insurance company's paid-up capital. Nonetheless, the Insurance Act and its accompanying regulations spell out how this 26 percent should be calculated. The applicant may run life insurance, general insurance, or reinsurance business. Separate corporations would be required if several firms were to be run. The application's name must include the words "insurance company" or “assurance company”.
Only authorized or registered insurance agents, brokers, and intermediaries may solicit and obtain insurance business on behalf of insurers. An Indian insurer may also collaborate with intermediaries and insurance intermediaries, such as insurance brokers, corporate agents, web aggregators, third-party administrators, surveyors and loss assessors, insurance marketing companies, motor insurance service providers, and point-of-sale individuals, under current regulations. Insurance companies may pay access to a database of authorized referral businesses in addition to being permitted to hire authorized telemarketers to seek and acquire insurance clients.
The IRDA (Insurance Advertisements) Regulations, 2000 control all insurance advertisements prepared per Rule 2 by an insurer, intermediary, or insurance agency. Every insurer, intermediary, and an insurance agent must set up and maintain a system of control over all policy-related advertisements. Furthermore, these advertisements must be reported to the Authority at the time of their initial dissemination. An insurer's advertisement should not be deemed deceptive or unfair.
The Exchange Control Department of the Reserve Bank of India is responsible for enforcing and regulating exchange regulations. The Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 governs India's foreign direct investment policy. General insurance contracts denominated in foreign currency may be issued by IRDA-registered insurance companies, and they may also accept premium payments denominated in foreign currencies without prior authorization from the RBI. This is only permitted in certain cases, such as marine insurance for ships chartered by Indian firms but owned by foreign shipping organizations, and aviation insurance for planes brought in on a lease or hire basis from outside India for use in air taxi operations, among others. Authorized dealers may also settle claims on general insurance policies in foreign currencies under specified conditions.
