Introduction to National Insurance Repository (NIR)
Insurance Repository; the first initiative of its kind in the world, was launched on 16th September 2013; it is a database of insurance policies. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) initially granted certificate of registration to act as an insurance repository to NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML), along with four other players.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) guidelines paved way for electronic issuance of insurance policies on April 29, 2011 with revised guidelines on May 29, 2015 and Regulation on June 13, 2016.
NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) received approval from “IRDAI” for setting up Insurance Repository to facilitate the holding of all type of insurance policies in electronic form in a single e-Insurance Account (eIA) and named it NSDL NATIONAL INSURANCE REPOSITORY (NIR).
“Insurance Repository” means a company formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) and which has been granted a certificate of registration by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for maintaining data of insurance policies in Electronic form on behalf of Insurers. The Insurance Repositories provide the ease of holding insurance policies issued in an electronic form digitally in an e-Insurance Account (eIA).
What is an eIA?
An eIA, is a digital facility (account) provided by the IRs, facilitating policyholders to store their insurance policies digitally under one e-Insurance Account (eIA) without any charge.
Each e-Insurance Account will have a unique Account number and each account holder will be granted a unique Login ID and Password to access the electronic policies online.
Objective of IR:
The objective of creating an insurance repository is to provide policyholders a facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form and to undertake changes, modifications and revisions in the insurance policy with speed and accuracy. In addition, the repository acts as a single stop for several policy service requirements. The Insurance Repository system also brings about efficiency and transparency in the issuance and maintenance of insurance policies
As on date, IRDA has active Certificate of Registration for the following four entities to act as ‘Insurance Repositories’ that are authorized to open e-Insurance Accounts.
NSDL Database Management Limited
Central Insurance Repository Limited
Karvy Insurance Repository Limited
CAMS Repository Services Limited
Adoption of IR Services
NSDL NIR has emerged as the largest and most preferred IR with insurers as well as policy holders, although insurance repositories have been present since 2013, only when the pandemic hit have people come to realize its advantages over traditional brick-and-mortar mode insurances.
During the last 2 years of pandemic, IRs have witnessed a strong adoption from policy holders as well as the insurers, looking at the numbers of FY 20-21 VS FY 21-22, the private life insurance industry has grown by 3% whereas among the same insurers the IR adoption has jumped 11%.
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, norms of social distancing and the paradigm shift towards business operations taking place online, insurance repository services have helped people hold insurance plans in the demat form. One can keep one’s insurance policies in an electronic insurance account (eIA) with an insurance repository. Even if one has policies from multiple insurance companies, they can be stored in the same account. Each eIA will have a unique account number and each account holder will be granted a unique login ID and password to access the same.
Why eIA?
The way capital market popularised the dematerialisation of stocks in the two decades and immensely benefitted the entire ecosystem including users to seamlessly transact, the IR concept is also catching up as users as well as insurers have started realising the benefits of eIA.
First, on being stored in an electronic form, one does not have to worry about the risk of losing the physical document. Also, it is easier to track all policies as everything is stored in one single platform. Further, one gets a dashboard view of all the policies held and also see on a calendar the premium payments related to various policies held. This helps the policyholder plan better in terms of ensuring equitable cash flow. Further, all types of polices namely motor, health, etc. can be held under the same eIA.
In the event of the untimely demise of the policyholder, the eIA allows the person’s heir or beneficiary to access all the policies from one account and then initiate the process to get the benefits of the deceased released. Keeping in mind the uptake of digital initiatives, accessing everything from the comfort and safety of one’s e-gadget is the best practice. The paperwork, too, gets reduced and updating and changing your personal details becomes faster and hassle-free. NIR has made sure that all these facilities are being offered to their customers in a hassle-free manner.
Moreover, the fact that it costs nothing to open an eIA or hold the services in the demat form makes it more attractive. The only thing that one needs to do is to fill up a request form for conversion and submit the same to the insurer, which will be later safeguarded by the respective repository. NIR ensure the interests and secure fair treatment of policyholders by acting as a one-stop shop for policy servicing.
Once an e-insurance account is opened if the applicant wishes to buy a new policy in electronic form he is to quote his unique e-insurance account number in his new insurance proposal form and make a request to issue policy in an electronic form. All Life Insurance, health insurance, general insurance and annuity polices that are issued by registered insurance companies with IRDA and who have signed up with insurance repositories are eligible to be held in the electronic form. If the insurance policy is successfully credit into the e-insurance account the applicant will receive a mail and SMS on his registered e-mail id and mobile from NIR. It is also possible to convert the existing paper policies into electronic form, by simply logging into your NIR eIA.
Benefits:
The following are the benefits of holding insurance policies in electronic form with NIR :
Safety – There is no risk of loss or damage of a policy as it’s common with paper polices; the electronic form ensures that the policies are in safe custody and can be easily accessed whenever and wherever needed. A copy of the policy can be downloaded at any time by accessing the e-insurance account.Introduction to National Insurance Repository (NIR)
Insurance Repository; the first initiative of its kind in the world, was launched on 16th September 2013; it is a database of insurance policies. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) initially granted certificate of registration to act as an insurance repository to NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML), along with four other players.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) guidelines paved way for electronic issuance of insurance policies on April 29, 2011 with revised guidelines on May 29, 2015 and Regulation on June 13, 2016.
NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) received approval from “IRDAI” for setting up Insurance Repository to facilitate the holding of all type of insurance policies in electronic form in a single e-Insurance Account (eIA) and named it NSDL NATIONAL INSURANCE REPOSITORY (NIR).
“Insurance Repository” means a company formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) and which has been granted a certificate of registration by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for maintaining data of insurance policies in Electronic form on behalf of Insurers. The Insurance Repositories provide the ease of holding insurance policies issued in an electronic form digitally in an e-Insurance Account (eIA).
What is an eIA?
An eIA, is a digital facility (account) provided by the IRs, facilitating policyholders to store their insurance policies digitally under one e-Insurance Account (eIA) without any charge.
Each e-Insurance Account will have a unique Account number and each account holder will be granted a unique Login ID and Password to access the electronic policies online.
Objective of IR:
The objective of creating an insurance repository is to provide policyholders a facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form and to undertake changes, modifications and revisions in the insurance policy with speed and accuracy. In addition, the repository acts as a single stop for several policy service requirements. The Insurance Repository system also brings about efficiency and transparency in the issuance and maintenance of insurance policies
As on date, IRDA has active Certificate of Registration for the following four entities to act as ‘Insurance Repositories’ that are authorized to open e-Insurance Accounts.
NSDL Database Management Limited
Central Insurance Repository Limited
Karvy Insurance Repository Limited
CAMS Repository Services Limited
Adoption of IR Services
NSDL NIR has emerged as the largest and most preferred IR with insurers as well as policy holders, although insurance repositories have been present since 2013, only when the pandemic hit have people come to realize its advantages over traditional brick-and-mortar mode insurances.
During the last 2 years of pandemic, IRs have witnessed a strong adoption from policy holders as well as the insurers, looking at the numbers of FY 20-21 VS FY 21-22, the private life insurance industry has grown by 3% whereas among the same insurers the IR adoption has jumped 11%.
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, norms of social distancing and the paradigm shift towards business operations taking place online, insurance repository services have helped people hold insurance plans in the demat form. One can keep one’s insurance policies in an electronic insurance account (eIA) with an insurance repository. Even if one has policies from multiple insurance companies, they can be stored in the same account. Each eIA will have a unique account number and each account holder will be granted a unique login ID and password to access the same.
Why eIA?
The way capital market popularised the dematerialisation of stocks in the two decades and immensely benefitted the entire ecosystem including users to seamlessly transact, the IR concept is also catching up as users as well as insurers have started realising the benefits of eIA.
First, on being stored in an electronic form, one does not have to worry about the risk of losing the physical document. Also, it is easier to track all policies as everything is stored in one single platform. Further, one gets a dashboard view of all the policies held and also see on a calendar the premium payments related to various policies held. This helps the policyholder plan better in terms of ensuring equitable cash flow. Further, all types of polices namely motor, health, etc. can be held under the same eIA.
In the event of the untimely demise of the policyholder, the eIA allows the person’s heir or beneficiary to access all the policies from one account and then initiate the process to get the benefits of the deceased released. Keeping in mind the uptake of digital initiatives, accessing everything from the comfort and safety of one’s e-gadget is the best practice. The paperwork, too, gets reduced and updating and changing your personal details becomes faster and hassle-free. NIR has made sure that all these facilities are being offered to their customers in a hassle-free manner.
Moreover, the fact that it costs nothing to open an eIA or hold the services in the demat form makes it more attractive. The only thing that one needs to do is to fill up a request form for conversion and submit the same to the insurer, which will be later safeguarded by the respective repository. NIR ensure the interests and secure fair treatment of policyholders by acting as a one-stop shop for policy servicing.
Once an e-insurance account is opened if the applicant wishes to buy a new policy in electronic form he is to quote his unique e-insurance account number in his new insurance proposal form and make a request to issue policy in an electronic form. All Life Insurance, health insurance, general insurance and annuity polices that are issued by registered insurance companies with IRDA and who have signed up with insurance repositories are eligible to be held in the electronic form. If the insurance policy is successfully credit into the e-insurance account the applicant will receive a mail and SMS on his registered e-mail id and mobile from NIR. It is also possible to convert the existing paper policies into electronic form, by simply logging into your NIR eIA.
Benefits:
The following are the benefits of holding insurance policies in electronic form with NIR :
a) Safety – There is no risk of loss or damage of a policy as it’s common with paper polices; the electronic form ensures that the policies are in safe custody and can be easily accessed whenever and wherever needed. A copy of the policy can be downloaded at any time by accessing the e-insurance account.
b) Easy Tracking - Policyholder can view their insurance policies as a part of the Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) where the customer has Demat account with NSDL.
c) Convenience – All insurance policies, be it life, pension, health or general, can be electronically held under a single e-insurance account. This means all details of all policies are available in a single account. The details of the policies can be accessed at any time by logging on to the online portal of insurance repository.
d) Single point of service – Service requests in respect of e-insurance account or any of the electronic policy can be submitted at any of insurance repository’s service points. A single request can sometimes cater to the requirements of several insurers. As an illustration, a single change of address request made to the insurance repository can update the policies issued by multiple insurers.
There would be no need to go to several offices of individual insurers for service.
Less paper work and savings in time – An e-insurance account holder is freed from the trouble of submitting KYC details each time a new policy is taken. Further, any changes in personal details like address or contact number can be effected through a single request, thus, saving on paper and time.
Statement of Insurance Policies (SOIP) – Once every year, NIR would send a SOIP to the e-insurance account holder with the details of the policies of the account holder.
Increased number of service points – Since the Insurance Repositories function in addition to the insurers, the policy holders will have an increased number of touch points for having their servicing needs attended.
Single view – Single view of all policies will be made available to an authorized person in case of death of the e-insurance account holder.
Authorized representative
An Authorized representative is a person who is appointed by e-insurance account holder to operate his/her e-insurance account in case of unfortunate demise or incapability of e-insurance account holder to operate the account. The authorized representative will intimate the insurance repository about the demise/incapability of policyholder with valid proof. He has only access to the e-insurance account in the event of demise of the policyholder. He would act only as a facilitator and is not entitled to receive any policy benefits unless designated as a ‘nominee’ or ‘assignee’ by the deceased policyholder. An authorized representative may also be a nominee. An authorized representative can be changed by making a request to the insurance repository.
Recently, IRDAI has also come up with draft guidelines mandating insurers to issue all policies only electronically through an insurance repository (IR) in order to promote efficiency in conducting insurance business, we at NSDL National Insurance Repository (NIR), see this as a major step forward by the Authority in creating a WIN-WIN situation between the policyholder and insurance company.
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