In a first, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has proposed enhanced disclosure norms for insurance intermediaries earning commissions above a prescribed threshold. Aiming to curb misselling of insurance policies, the regulator has released a consultation paper proposing that insurance intermediaries disclose details of commission income, related-party transactions, profits earned and dividend repatriation.

Under the exposure draft, corporate agents, brokers, insurance marketing firms and web aggregators earning more than ₹10 crore in commission income in a financial year will be required to annually disclose to Irdai details of commissions earned, related-party transactions, profits and dividends. These entities will also have to publish the disclosures on their websites.

The proposals form part of the draft IRDAI (Insurance Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, which seek to strengthen transparency and accountability while easing compliance requirements. It is also the first time Irdai has sought such detailed public disclosures from insurance intermediaries.

Missing the Target?

However, the draft regulations stop short of addressing intermediary commission structures. In light of the fact that commission payouts have risen faster than premium collections across the insurance industry, it was widely expected that Irdai would come out with an effort-based commission framework, replacing the current system of broadly uniform commissions across categories of intermediaries.

Life insurers paid around ₹60,800 crore in commissions during FY25, while non-life insurers paid ₹47,266 crore, with commission growth outpacing premium growth in both segments.

Traceable Tracking

To strengthen accountability, Irdai has proposed that every branch of a corporate agent designate at least one specified person (SP) responsible for supervising solicitation activities at that location. It has also proposed mandatory tagging of every policy sold through an intermediary to the individual responsible for the sale. Accordingly, policies will be linked to the relevant specified person, broker qualified person, insurance sales person, authorised verifier, point of sales person (POSP), or any other authorised sales representative involved in the transaction.

The regulator has also proposed increasing the penalty to ₹10 crore from ₹1 crore currently for acts of omission by the principal officer of a corporate agent. As per Irdai, the measures are expected to strengthen supervisory oversight, curb instances of misselling and improve service quality across insurance intermediaries.

The draft regulations also include several measures aimed at improving ease of doing business, including simplification of regulatory processes, reduction in compliance costs and greater certainty and continuity in business operations for insurance intermediaries.