The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on Tuesday proposed the creation of a Public Insurance Registry (PIR), a population-scale digital public infrastructure aimed at making the insurance ecosystem more connected, transparent and accessible.
The proposed registry is envisaged as an interoperable and non-exclusionary digital infrastructure, drawing on the experience of platforms such as the JAM trinity, credit information bureaus and UPI. It seeks to address information and interoperability gaps in the insurance sector by creating a consistent and authoritative view of insurance records, while allowing data to remain with the institutions that hold it.
Under the framework, insurers could access verified information across the ecosystem, including policy and claims data, to improve underwriting, pricing and product design. The registry could also help identify protection gaps and improve claims and customer servicing.
For policyholders and prospective customers, the PIR could enable easier product discovery and comparison, a consolidated view of policies held across insurers, reduced documentation, simpler servicing and claims processes, and easier identification of unclaimed amounts.
The proposed infrastructure is intended to go beyond being a data repository and serve as an innovation platform and strategic component of the country’s digital economic infrastructure. Irdai said it could lower information barriers, promote competition and allow insurers to differentiate through product innovation, pricing, service quality and customer experience.
For insurers, the registry could help identify protection gaps, improve underwriting, pricing, claims and customer service, while reducing operational and regulatory-reporting friction. Reinsurers could use standardised exposure, loss and catastrophe data to improve pricing, accumulation monitoring, capital allocation and risk-transfer capacity.
Intermediaries could access comparable product information and verified data for faster onboarding and servicing, while regulators could use the infrastructure to monitor protection gaps and customer outcomes, strengthen conduct and early-warning supervision, and streamline reporting through standardised interfaces.
Irdai has invited comments and suggestions from the public and stakeholders on the proposed framework, including its objectives and use cases, data architecture, identity framework, data standards, privacy and consent safeguards, commercial confidentiality, governance, implementation readiness and transition arrangements.
The deadline for submission of comments and feedback is September 30.