BIMA
SUGAM PLATFORM – POLITY
News: All about Bima Sugam portal, a ‘UPI
moment’ for insurance sector
What's
in the news?
●
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
of India (IRDAI) has established a steering committee to oversee the creation
of the Bima Sugam platform, a comprehensive online insurance marketplace.
Bima
Sugam Portal:
●
The Bima Sugam platform aims to simplify the process of buying insurance policies
and accessing insurance-related services by offering a one-stop solution for
consumers and industry stakeholders.
Features:
●
Bima Sugam will be a ‘one-stop destination’ for people's insurance-related needs. These
include services such as policies, portability facilities, change of agents,
settling of claims, and more.
●
The platform is designed to provide easy access to insurance products and
services for individuals, including life, health, motor, and property
insurance policies, and will serve as a centralized hub for insurance
companies, agents, brokers, banks, and aggregators.
●
The platform will provide a wide range of services, including
policy purchase, claim settlement, insurance advice, grievance redressal, and
the acceptance of new or sandbox insurance products.
●
Insurance
companies (both general and life insurers) will be major shareholders in the
platform, which will offer facilities to customers via an
‘e-insurance account’ (E-IA).
Significance:
The portal will provide
the following benefits such as
●
Act as a centralised database; assist the
insured/buyers in porting their respective policies based on coverage and
pricing.
●
Give people a wide choice to pick and
choose policies and view all their policies.
●
Reduce commission paid to intermediaries.
●
Pave the way for a speedy acceptance of
new/sandbox products.
IRDAI
Plan:
●
IRDAI plans to appoint a project
consultant responsible for the complete ideation, design, and development of
the Bima Sugam platform.
●
The consultant will work on creating an easy-to-use interface to help
online users access information, make informed policy purchase decisions
and manage their policies efficiently through the platform.
Go
back to basics:
IRDAI:
●
IRDAI, founded in 1999, is a regulatory body created with the aim of protecting the
interests of insurance customers.
●
It is a statutory body under the IRDA Act
1999 and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
●
It regulates and sees to the development
of the insurance industry while monitoring insurance-related activities.
●
The powers and functions of the Authority
are laid down in the IRDAI Act, 1999 and Insurance Act, 1938.