General insurance companies said that aviation
insurance policies that were primarily used to cover the fleet of the airline
companies is now in demand for the other covers provided by this policy. For
quite some time, demand for covers for ground handling and aviation product
liability insurance policies has been increasing, a renowned newspaper
informed.
Mr. Manik Nehra, senior manager of aviation insurance at Bajaj Allianz General
Insurance Co. Ltd. Said, “With new routes and new cities being added by
aviation companies, the demand for aviation insurance will only go up."
“We are now looking at aviation products, general aviation and aerospace
insurance covers. In the next few months, we will look at airline insurance as
well,“ said Mr. M Ravichandran, president-insurance, Tata AIG General
Insurance.insurance cover.
Private sector global insurance group Future Generali
India Insurance has recently launched the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY)
programme in Amalapur, Bidar District of Karnataka to become the first insurer
to start the enrolments in the state. It had secured the tender for one cluster
consisting 6 districts in Karnataka for implementation of the RSBY programme.
RSBY is a unique scheme run by central government which provides cashless
treatment benefits to below poverty line (BPL) families at all RSBY network
hospitals across the country. Under this scheme, five members of a BPL family
can get treatment for up to Rs. 30,000. In the Union Budget for 2012-13, the
government made a total allocation of Rs about 1097 crore towards the scheme.
“Every citizen in this country should have access to health insurance coverage
and the government is committed to this cause", Future Generali India
Insurance Head (Health Insurance) Mr. Shreeraj Deshpande said on the occasion.
“Enrolling people in rural areas is a difficult and complex activity and
requires working closely with the government. It is our honour to be associated
with this project and it will be our endeavour to cover as many people under
this scheme", he added.
The unclaimed amount with life insurance companies has
grown 250% in the four-year period from 2009-10 to 2012-13, mainly because of
lack of awareness, delay in claims settlement and change in address, the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) said in a circular on
Tuesday.
The unclaimed amount jumped to Rs 4,866 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 1,373 crore in
year 2009-10.
As per the circular, the unclaimed amount rises 60% in 2012-13 from Rs 3,037.46
crore in the previous year.
The regulator mentioned that the rise in unclaimed amount is largely because of
dependents not being aware of existence of a life insurance policy among other
reasons including delay in settlement of claim and change in address of the
life insured.
Further, the regulator said that in another big reason for not settling claims
is change in address, where the policyholders do not informed the insurance
company, due to which cheques/demand draft issued by the insurance company
towards maturity payment is not received by the policyholder.
In order to ensure timely payout to policy holders, IRDA has asked insurance
companies to make various disclosures such as the amount which remained
unclaimed for more than six months from the due date of settlement, nature of
the unclaimed amount (death claim, maturity benefit, etc), details of action
taken (for payment of the unclaimed money) by the insurer and the status of the
unclaimed amount.
Initially, insurers have been told to upload this information on their website
by 31 March 2014. Subsequently, they have been advised to put up this
information every six month by 30 September and 31 March every year.
It's been reported that insurance sector regulator in
India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has imposed a
penalty of Rs 1,00,000 on private sector life insurance player, Tata AIA Life
Insurance Company Ltd. for not complying with its anti-money laundering (AML)
guidelines.
In its order, the regulator also directed the insurer to hire a chartered
accounting firm(s) to carry out an investigation on the operational procedures
present to complying with its AML guidelines.
Further, the order said that effective systems were not in place to report cash
transactions and in various instances no review was carried out for reporting
cash transactions. The regulator also observed that in certain instances, the
insurer accepted multiple cash transactions exceeding Rs 50,000 on a single
policy from same payer without PAN number, which violates its norms.
“The accounting firm(s) should complete the study and submit its report in 45
days. The Tata AIA Life Insurance should submit the accounting firm's report to
IRDA within 15 days of its submission", said the order.
A national seminar on 'General Insurance Industry: A
Decade of Transition and Road Ahead', was held on Saturday in connection with
the 36th central general council meeting of the United India Insurance
Officers' Association.
The seminar was inaugurated by Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) of India
Chairman and Managing Director Mr. P J Joseph. And, United India Insurance
Company (UIIC) General Manager Mr. M V V Chalam presided over the seminar. UIIC
Deputy General Manager Mr. V Sajan delivered the keynote address on marketing
dynamics.
In his address, Mr. Joseph asked state-run insurers to accommodate with
changing times by improving customer service. He also urged them to grow with
professional approach, instead of wavering, while taking on competition from
private insurance companies.
Prominent industry personnel presented papers on various topics related to the
insurance industry.
