'Bima Sugam will be a UPI moment for the insurance industry': IRDAI Chairman says on incubating one-stop platform

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New Delhi: Insurance regulator IRDAI is working on Bima Sugam, which will act as a game changer in the insurance sector by providing a one-stop platform for multiple services including the sale of policy, renewal, and settlement of claims. This tech-led portal will help in expanding insurance penetration in the country by ensuring a hassle-free experience for customers across the country.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) chairman Debasish Panda in an interview with PTI said Bima Sugam should be a UPI moment for the insurance industry. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has revolutionised digital payment in the country as common people have started using it for making even small payments. The success of UPI in a short span of time has caught global attention and many countries are trying to replicate it. Launched in 2016, Payment through UPI has crossed a milestone of Rs 11 lakh crore in September this year.

"Bima Sugam will be a one-stop shop for buying and selling insurance, for policy servicing, and also for claim settlement. Insurance companies can onboard the platform. It's going to be plug and play with API (Application programming interface) interface," Panda said.

He further said all the insurance intermediaries including individual agents, web aggregators will have access to this portal. And as far as the policyholder is concerned, he said, he or she will be able to buy the product through assisted mode, or directly. "So maybe many people may prefer the assisted mode and can take the help of one of the intermediaries," he added.

This platform will provide the policyholder and prospective customer various options for a product, company of their choice and method of payment.

"So it's like a shopping mall. So you go and shop there. And as far as the KYC is concerned, the moment you enter the portal, type your Aadhaar number, the data will auto populate. The KYC will be done through your Aadhaar number which will be masked for security reasons," he said. Underwriting of policy would be done through a few easy steps and in a couple of minutes through the portal, he said.

To ensure easy liability servicing, he said, "we are trying to mandate that all the policies should go to insurance repositories who will store details on a permanent basis. It will help in settlement of claims in a paperless manner on the basis of policy number."

The portal, he added, "will promote ease of living and expand the reach of insurance...This is going to be a game changer. It will be a huge facilitator and I think with this platform you will not need to go anywhere physically."