annual report 2009-10 - IRDA

ANNUAL REPORT 2009-10I.4.5.8 During 2009-10, all life and non-life insurancecompanies were compliant with the stipulations onpattern of investment as laid down in the InvestmentRegulations. However, General Insurance Corporationof India (GIC) had failed to comply with the provisionson minimum mandatory investment required to bemade in Central Government securities. TheCorporation was levied a penalty of `5 lakh during2009-10. All the insurers, both life and non-life hadcarried out their Risk Management System audit andthe concurrent audit through independent externalaudit firms for their investment functions. Thisrequirement has been mandated for all insurerseffective financial year 2009-10.4.6 HEALTH INSURANCEI.4.6.1 Health insurance has been predominantlywithin the non-life sector as a part of the miscellaneousaccident portfolio. However, in the last couple of years,health insurance has emerged as one of the mostpromising growth segment with increase in not onlynumber and variety of products but also in the numberof insurance companies venturing into the healthinsurance market. The Indian industry already hasthree standalone health insurers who have beengranted certificate of registration by IRDA, with thelatest entrant being Max Bupa Health Insurance Co.Ltd. IRDA is presently considering one moreapplication for a standalone health insurancecompany. The health insurance industry, which hadunderwritten premium of over `8,000 crore in2009-10 (`6,625 crore in 2008-09) is expected toexpand manifold because this sector is increasinglybecoming an important line of business not only forstandalone health insurers but also the existingplayers in the non-life industry. The health segmentcontributed 21.12 per cent of the total premium in2009-10 (20.06 per cent in 2008-09).I.4.6.2 IRDA has been consistently attempting toaddress and resolve the key issues faced by the healthinsurance sector. One of the initiatives has been thecreation of checklist for facilitating processing of healthinsurance products filed by the non-life insurancecompanies. The checklist is created by analysing theobservations of the Health section over the last twoyears, across various categories of health products.The checklist is intended for self administration bycompanies for products filed by them, so thatinconsistencies are eliminated at their end before thedocuments are submitted to IRDA.I.4.6.3 Based on the Checklist and as a step towardscreating an online library of products, the healthsection has designed a product database that wouldcapture all important features of health products tothe granularity of sub-limits, age-wise premium rates,exclusions, etc. In addition, once the software is putin place and the data keyed in for health products, theproduct database will enable IRDA to performcomparative analysis across all health products. Allthese initiatives are being attempted to introduce indue course, online filing of health insurance productsby insurance companies.Recent GuidelinesI.4.6.4 While processing health products under theexisting F&U formats, health section has recognisedthe need for more health specific information frominsurance companies at the time of filing of products.Taking cognisance of this and with a view to enhancingthe health product processing, the health section hasre-designed File & Use formats for filing of healthinsurance products. The exposure draft has been sentto the General Insurance Council for comments.Health section is currently examining the feedbackreceived from the Council.TABLE 45HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM 2005-20102009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06Non-Life Private Insurers 2349.84 2266.33 1832.51 1223.99 539.59Non-Life Public Insurers 4883.26 3824.04 3136.51 1973.57 1682.51Standalone Health Insurers 1072.08 535.09 155.94 11.16 -Total 8305.18 6625.46 5124.95 3208.73 2222.09( ` crore)43