As the government has stepped up measures against Covid, with the country recording new coronavirus infections, insurance regulator Irdai has held a meeting with stakeholders to ascertain the preparedness of life and non-life insurance companies.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has convened a stakeholders’ meeting with insurance companies to assess the level of their Covid preparedness, and discussed multiple issues to work out common regulatory requirements, sources told FE.
According to sources, issues such as steps being taken by life and non-life insurers to form Covid emergency teams for operations and business continuity, engaging with hospital networks for faster claims settlement and telemedicine support during emergency requirements were discussed.
The regulator has also discussed with the companies the measures they took to report the accurate number of claims related to Covid.
The companies have requested Irdai to look into the possibility of standardisation of pricing of certain commonly-used products such as PPE kits, masks and gloves, among others.
During 2021-22, the general insurers and standalone health insurers had received a huge number of claims related to Covid treatment, and the industry settled claims of approximately Rs 25,000 crore.
The health insurance business reported a growth of 26.27% in 2021-22, making it the largest general insurance segment in India with a market share of about 36%.
Cumulative up to March 31, 2022, the insurance industry settled as many as 2,25,219 death claims due to Covid, amounting to Rs 17,269 crore.
