Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority(IRDA) is anautonomousapex statutory body which regulates and develops theinsuranceindustry in India. Itwas constituted by aParliament of Indiaact calledInsurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999[2][3]and duly passed by theGovernment of India.[4]The agency operates from its headquarters atHyderabad,Telanganawhere it shifted fromDelhiin 2001.[5]IRDA batted for a hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49 per cent in the insurance sector from the erstwhile 26 per cent.[6]The FDI limit in insurance sector was raised to 49% in July 2014.[7]HistoryTheIRDA Act, 1999was passed as per the major recommendation of theMalhotra Committeereport (7 jan,1994) which recommended establishment of an independent regulatory authority for insurance sector in India. Later, It was incorporated as a statutory body in April, 2000. TheIRDA Act, 1999also allows private players to enter the insurance sector in India besides a maximum foreignequity of 26 per cent in a private insurance company having operations in India. The Insurance Bill proposes to raise the FDI limit in insurance sector to 49%. Proposed by UPA government in July 2013, it is still pending discussion in Rajya Sabha. It serves as an Authority to protect the interests of holders of insurance policies, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry and for matters connected therewith. IRDA role[8]is to protect rights of policy holders & they provide registration certification to life insurance companies & responsible forrenewal, modification, cancellation & suspension of this registered certificateOrganizational structure or Composition of AuthorityAs per the section 4 of IRDA Act 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA, which was constituted by an act of parliament) specify the composition of Authority.[9]IRDAis a tenmember body consisting of:[9]*.A Chairman,-(T.S. Vijayan)*.Five whole-time members,-(R.K. Nair,M. Ram Prasad,S. Roy Chowdhary,D.D. Singh)*.Four part-time members,-(Anup Wadhawan,S.B. Mathur,Prof. V.K.Gupta,CA. Subodh Kr. Agarwal)All members are appointed by theGovernment of India.[9]Insurance RepositoryRecently the Finance Minister of India announced the setting of insurance repository system. An Insurance Repository is a facility to help policy holders buy and keep insurance policies inelectronic form, rather than as a paper document.Insurance Repositories, like Share Depositories orMutual FundTransfer Agencies, will hold electronic records of insurance policies issued to individuals and such policies are called “electronic policies” or “e Policies”.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:10:25 +0000
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