The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is entrusted with the regulation, promotion and orderly growth of insurance business in India. Maintaining an efficient, fair and stable insurance market is necessary for the growth of the industry as well as for the protection of the interests of policyholders. The IRDAI has been bringing out various regulations for fulfilling its mandate. Another important measure in this direction is Guidelines on Public Disclosures issued on January 28, 2010. However, the Authority has come out with amendment in the existing regulations and have also notified a few new regulations post Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015.  Further, the Authority is of the view that few of the disclosures may not be mandated for the reinsurers. 

In view of the same, the Authority has decided to amendment the guidelines on Public Disclosures to the extent it is applicable to other than life insurance companies. A brief summary of the amendments proposed is as under:

1.        The revised guidelines differentiate between the general insurers and reinsurers;

2.        New forms for branch of foreign reinsurers have been introduced;

3.        Analytical Ratios: the following amendments have been proposed:  

a.        A few of the ratios such as combined ratio, underwriting results etc., have been aligned with IAIS Standard;

b.        New ratios Debit Equity Ratio, Debt Service Coverage Ratio have been introduced;

c.        A few ratios have been aligned with the revised / new Regulations issued by the Authority;

4.        In order to have uniformity in the disclosures, the amended guidelines to include the following:

a.        Segmental Revenue Account and its schedules;

b.        NL-9: Shareholding Pattern: additional line item for investors;

c.        NL-8: Investment: Segregation of Investments: Policyholders and Shareholders;

d.        NL-24: Ageing of the Claim to include amount also;

e.        NL-40: Business Acquisition through different channels: On-line to be a sub-channel of Direct channel;

f.         New Disclosures on:

                                  i.    Disclosures on underwriting performance (Segment-wise);

                                ii.    Development of Insurance Losses (On gross basis);

5.    In order to avoid de-duplication, a few disclosures have been aligned with Other statutory requirements to the extent as applicable

The draft guidelines along with the formats are attached herewith. All are requested to offer their valuable comments / suggestions on the proposed Guidelines by 15^th April, 2019 in the format (Annexure A).  The comments / suggestions may be e-mailed to Mrs. Jamuna Choudhary, AGM at jamunachoudhary@irda.gov.in and Mr. Sumit Arora, AM at sumit.arora@irda.gov.in  with a copy to the undersigned at rksharma@irda.gov.in .

 R K Sharma

General Manager-F&A-NL