Why we take an Insurance Policy? Of course, the purpose is to provide a shield to our  dependent family members with adequate financial cover in case of any unfortunate event in our life. Earlier, it was sufficient to have just one Life Insurance policy to give a sense of safety to our dependent family members. But, now the scenario has been changed. We have to keep multiple Insurance Policies in our basket comprising of Life and Non-life Insurance due to changes in our Lifestyle and Economic scenario.

The data indicates that many times, despite having proper insurance cover; benefits of the insurance coverage could not be passed on to the nominees. It may be due to lack of information about the policy or maybe due to policy papers are misplaced or lost. In such scenarios, it’s a tough task for family members to lodge a claim with respective insurance companies.

Before the introduction of the Insurance Repository System concept in 2013, only physical policies were issued and for all policy servicing requirements, the policyholder was required to visit the Insurer’s office. There was no common platform for viewing all policy documents in one place and fulfill their servicing requirement on a common platform. It made the entire process cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming for the policyholder.

To overcome these difficulties by policyholders/ their family members and to collect and keep safe custody of all the insurance policies of an individual at a single location, the de-materialization of insurance policies was conceived by IRDAI. One such initiative by the Authority is the introduction of the Insurance Repository (IR) System on 16^th September 2013.

Initially, Certificate of Registration to the following five entities to act as Insurance Repository (IR) was granted by IRDAI.

• NSDL Database Management Limited – nir.ndml.in
• Central Insurance Repository Limited – cirl.co.in
• SHCIL Projects Limited– – shcilir.com
• Karvy Insurance Repository Limited – kinrep.com
• CAMS Repository Services Limited – camsrepository.com

However, Insurance Repository license was surrendered by SHCIL Projects Limited in September 2015.

“Insurance Repository” is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. It maintains data of insurance policies in electronic form on behalf of Insurers and also facilitates a policyholder to buy and keep Insurance Policies in electronic form. Such Insurance policies which are converted to electronic form are called “electronic policies” or “e-policies”.

How to Open an e- Insurance Account?

Today, everyone is busy and people are ready to pay more for any product or service if the process is simple and saves their time. Of course, the security feature is one of the key concerns for any aware customer. To buy and keep policies in electronic mode, a policyholder is required to open an e- Insurance Account (e-IA) with any one of the Insurance Repositories of his/her choice. It is free, simple to open and operate, and highly secure.

To open an e-Insurance Account, an individual (policyholder or non-policy holder) is required to download and fill an e-IA opening form from websites of any one of his preferred Insurance Repository and submit it to the office of Insurance Repository or Insurance Company or authorized Approved Person (AP) appointed by Insurance Repository along with necessary KYC documents. He may also fill online e-Insurance Account Opening Form on Insurance Repository websites.

An e-Insurance Account will be opened within seven days from the date of submission of the application if it is in order. An account holder will receive a welcome kit. Each e- Insurance Account bears a distinctive Account number and a unique Login ID and Password to access the electronic policies online.

How many e- Insurance Accounts can be opened?

An individual can have only one e-Insurance Account with any one of the Insurance Repositories. The policyholder should mention his e-Insurance Account number in all his future correspondence with Insurance Repository.

How a nominee will get the information in case of need?

An e –Insurance Account holder is required to appoint an Authorized Representative to access his/her e-Insurance Account in case of his unfortunate demise or incapability to operate the account. The Authorized Representative will convey to the Insurance Repository about the demise/incapability of the policyholder with valid proof. The Authorized Representative will act as a facilitator. He is not authorized to receive any policy benefits unless appointed as a ‘nominee’ or ‘assignee’ by the deceased policyholder.

After the opening of an e-Insurance Account, the account holder can request to Insurance Repository for the conversion of all his existing policies (life and non-life) to electronic mode. Insurance Repository converts the physical policies into the electronic mode, protects them, and also takes care of the ongoing servicing needs of policyholders. All these policies will be credited to his single e-Insurance account  to enable the policyholder to access his insurance portfolio in a single click. It saves policyholders from the hassles of filling multiple KYC forms when applying for policies across life, non-life, and pension products (Annuity policies). Moreover, he can view all the transactions of his insurance policy under the e-Insurance Account. It also enables the policyholder to pay renewal premium online for all the policies, undertake changes or modification and revisions in the insurance policies with speed and accuracy, and even lodge complaints, if any. In another word, it acts as a ‘single stop shop’ for all policies and their ongoing administrations.

To get a new policy in electronic form, an e-IA holder needs to quote his unique e- Insurance Account number on the new insurance proposal form at the time of buying a new policy. An e-Insurance Account holder can also choose to shift from one Insurance Repository to the other. Policy related all the details and transaction history would then be transferred to the new Insurance Repository. By requesting his insurer, an e- Insurance Account holder can opt-out of the Insurance Repository System, and after completion of all formalities in respect of the same, the hard copy of the policy document shall be provided to the policyholder. Every Insurance Repository has a policyholders’ grievances cell to address an e-Insurance Account holder’s grievances for repository services.

There are many fruits like the ease of operation, accuracy, and a single platform to avail and administer policies by a policyholder; which makes IRS an attractive offer.

In nutshell, a person avails insurance cover to ensure the smooth journey of his/her dear and near ones even in his/her absence. Insurance Repository System is a digital step forward in this direction to ensure that the dependents get their claims through a single digital umbrella without any hassle.