What should I know about e-insurance Accounts

The IRDA has announced that from October 1, 2016, all insurance policies fulfilling certain criteria laid down have to be issued in electronic format. Policies that are being renewed and satisfying the criteria will also have to be in electronic format.

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This means a person insured or wishing to be insured needs to have an e-insurance account. It is similar to the demat account that is used to keep financial securities. You can keep your insurance policies in electronic format in your e-insurance account.

Insurance policies that satisfy any of the following criteria will have to be in e-insurance format –

Sum Assured

• Pure Term policies, General Insurance Policies (except motor insurance), personal accident and domestic travel policies with a sum assured equal to or greater than Rs. 10,00,000.
• Individual Health Policies with a sum assured equal to or greater than Rs. 5,00,000.
• ULIP, Endowment, Term Plans with Return on Premium with a sum assured equal to or greater than Rs. 1,00,000. 
• All motor insurance policies and overseas policies irrespective of premium paid.

Premium

• Pure Term policies, ULIP, Endowment, Term Plans with Return on Premium, Pension Policies, Annuities and Individual Health Policies with premium equal to or more than Rs. 10,000 (Premium can be single or annual).
• General Insurance Policies (except motor insurance) and personal accident and domestic travel policies with premium equal to or more than Rs. 5,000 (Premium can be single or annual).
• All motor insurance policies and overseas policies irrespective of premium paid.

Process to open an e-insurance account 

You can visit the websites of any of the following 4 institutions which are insurance repositories to  open an e-insurance account –

CAMS – http://www.camsrepository.com/appln_download.aspx

KARVY – http://www.kinrep.com/

NSDL – https://nironline.ndml.in/NIR/onlineEiaApplicationHome.html

CDSL – https://epic.cirl.co.in/cdslir/eiaaccountdirect.do

You will have to download the form from any of the websites or fill online. You need a PAN card or Aadhaar card to have an e-insurance account. You should attach self-attested KYC documents and submit the same to one of the above-mentioned institutions. Alternatively, you can visit the  e-insurance portal and submit a request for the account to be online. You can take  printouts, attach the relevant documents and send it to the office address of any of the above-mentioned companies.Other information required are bank details, cancelled cheque and details of an authorized representative who can act on your behalf. This person is not necessarily the nominee. This person only manages the account.

The account is free of cost. It takes about 7 working days to open an account. You will get a login ID and password to operate your e-insurance account. Once the KYC is done, all your policies get converted into the electronic format. Since the insurance policies are in the electronic format, the insurer may then destroy paper copies of policy documents.

It seems to be beneficial to all parties concerned

Insured – All the policies will be stored in 1 repository, in one place which makes it convenient. New policies can be easily purchased without the need to give the same information repeatedly. Renewal of policies becomes easier. There will be no dangers like misplacing or theft of policy documents.  All transactions can be done online as it will be connected to online bank accounts.

Insurer – The insurer saves costs in the form of lesser paperwork. The insurer need not have a wide network to process policies. Cost savings can be translated into lower premium.

Insurance Repositories – The repositories earn service fees for maintaining the policies in electronic format.

Buying a policy online is different from an e-insurance account. Currently many insurers offer the option to buy a policy online. An e-insurance account is an online repository for all your insurance policies.

Digital insurance will be beneficial and convenient. The only challenge is that people will need to be digitally literate to manage their accounts. But just like demat accounts are widely accepted, it might only be a matter of time before people start accepting and understanding the benefits of e-insurance accounts.

If you already have an e-insurance account or initiated the process – must share your experience.