IRDA is adequately independent to supervise insurers, says Vijayan

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has refuted the observation of World Bank-IMF (International Monetary Fund) study which said that the Indian insurance regulator was not completely independent to supervise and regulate insurance companies.

IRDA chairman, Sri T.S. Vijayan in a statement said, “IRDA would like to assert that there is complete autonomy with regard to supervision and regulation of insurance sector in general and insurance companies and intermediaries in particular.”

The World Bank-IMF study report said that the insurance regulator in India is not completely independent as a supervisory authority in view of the current uncertainty regarding control of its funding and budget, its incomplete oversight on the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. It said that a maximum time frame should be specified for the regulator to respond to various applications.

The study, further said that the insurance regulator in India is following the ‘name and shame’ practice of penalising the insurers by putting up their names on its website as the available financial sanction powers are outdated.

According to IRDA, the concerns expressed in the study on valuation of non-life insurer's liabilities are being addressed by strengthening the stipulations for provisioning for incurred but not reported, and incurred but not enough reported liabilities/claims.

Source: http://www.insuringindia.com