The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India plans a public insurance registry that keeps data with institutions but offers interoperable access, aiming to boost efficiency, customer experience, and financial inclusion across the sector.
India’s insurance regulator has set out plans for a public insurance registry that would act as a shared digital layer across the sector, after warning that fragmented records and poor data visibility continue to hold back efficiency and coverage. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India said in a consultation paper that the system is intended to improve access to verified information for insurers, intermediaries, reinsurers, lenders, government bodies and policyholders, while supporting wider financial inclusion.
The proposal builds on an idea first floated in March and sits within the broader framework of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha amendments to India’s insurance laws. According to the regulator, the registry would not work as a single central database. Instead, it would allow data to remain with the institutions that created it, while providing an interoperable access layer that can deliver a consistent view of policy records to authorised users.
Industry participants say the change could make insurance easier to buy, manage and claim on. In comments reported by Business Standard, Amit Jain, executive director and chief compliance officer at Iffco-Tokio General Insurance, said a trusted framework for information sharing could improve customer experience, efficiency and innovation. For consumers, the proposed system could make it easier to compare policies, check whether insurers and intermediaries are licensed, follow active cover across providers and recover forgotten or unclaimed sums.
The wider ambition is to create operational gains throughout the financial system. Insurers could use standardised data to sharpen underwriting and claims handling, while reinsurers could draw on more consistent exposure information. Lenders may be able to verify policy ownership and collateral more quickly, and researchers could access approved anonymised datasets for analysis. The regulator has also said the registry could help it identify protection gaps more quickly and support public resilience planning. Feedback on the proposal, including questions on privacy, consent, governance and transition timelines, is due by September 30.
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