Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was constituted in 1999 by an Act of Parliament to protect the interests of the policyholders and to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry. IRDA consists of a ten member team that comprises a Chairman, five whole-time members and four part-time members.

IRDA allows registration of new players in the insurance field. It also has the authority to renew, modify, withdraw, suspend or cancel such registration. IRDA ensures protection of the interests of the policy holders in matters concerning assigning of policy, nomination by policy holders, insurable interest, settlement of insurance claim, surrender value of policy and other terms and conditions of contracts of insurance. It specifies requisite qualifications, code of conduct and practical training for intermediary or insurance intermediaries and agents.

After creation of IRDA, insurance sector has seen tremendous growth. Before IRDA came into force there were only players in the insurance field, namely, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). Since then 23 new players have entered in the insurance sector.