MUMBAI: The insurance regulator Irdai has said the first phase of the insurance trinity, the launch of which has been in the making for almost two years now, will be ready for ‘soft launch’ soon. The regulator also said the market has more than enough room for more companies, especially those from the deep-pocketed conglomerates, to come to the insurance space.
Stating that the Bima trinity, which aims to deepen people’s trust in the sector and make it affordable, is at the “advanced stages”, Irdai chairman Debasish Panda on Tuesday said, “The first phase of the trinity will be ready for soft launch in a couple of months.”
The trinity includes benefit-based product Bima Vistaar, localised women-centric insurance field/sales force Bima Vaahak and an electronic marketplace to universalise insurance called Bima Sugam. Of the three, Bima Vistaar will be the first to be ready for soft launch, he told an industry event organised by CII here. Panda also said once fully launched, it will be a gamechanger in the insurance landscape.
“In insurance distribution, Bima Sugam is expected to cause an explosion, it will become the tech arm of insurance agents, making them more productive and efficient,” Panda said.
“The company to run Bima Sugam is already registered, with a new chief executive’s appointment recently, and soon the entire leadership team will be in place,” Panda said, adding the norms for Bima Vahak have also been issued and the structure has been finalised.
“The user acceptance testing for tech platform to support Bima Vahak is set to begin shortly with plans for a soft launch of Bima Vistaar in the next couple of months,” Panda said, urging insurers to create products similar to Bima Vistaar.
Irdai, which completes 25 years today, has also formulated a state-level insurance committees modelled on the lines of the state level bankers’ committees, where each insurer is entrusted with a state to deepen insurance coverage, the chairman noted.
“Irdai will soon issue a circular detailing the state insurance plan underscoring commitment to take coverage to the last mile,” he said.
On the need for more insurers, Panda said for a country of our size with a population of 1.4 billion, 70 insurers across life, general and health insurance is too low a number.
