annual report 2009-10 - IRDA

ANNUAL REPORT 2009-10GENERAL INSURANCE COUNCILII.6.16 During 2009-10 with the induction of SBIGeneral Insurance Co. Ltd. and Max Bupa HealthInsurance Co. Ltd., the membership of the GeneralInsurance Council increased to 23.II.6.17 The Executive Committee of the Councilcomprises, apart from the nominees of IRDA viz.Member (Non-life) as Chairman of the Council andExecutive Director (Non-life), the Secretary General,and the Chief Executive Officers of all non-lifeinsurance companies, who have been grantedcertificate of registration by IRDA.II.6.18 During 2009-10, six meetings of the ExecutiveCommittee of the Council were held. In addition, theCouncil organised meetings of the UnderwritingExecutives, Heads of Health Insurance Departments,CFOs, and other Senior Executives of themember-companies. In addition, the SecretaryGeneral represented the non-life insurance industryat various conferences, seminars, meetings of variousforums like FICCI, BCCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, PRESSMeets and other public initiatives in different citiesacross the country and on the various Committeesconstituted by IRDA. The Secretary General has alsorepresented the industry’s viewpoint and opinion onvarious matters referred to the council by differentministries like Ministry of Finance (Insurance Division),Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Finance (RevenueDivision) and by the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) officials.II.6.19 In pursuance of the functions of GeneralInsurance Council, the following initiatives wereundertaken and activities were conducted during theyear with regard to technical, legislative andregulatory, administrative, and accounts and taxationissues.TechnicalHealthII.6.20 A common portable product has beendeveloped by the Council’s committee andrecommended to IRDA. A set of standard formats havealso been developed to facilitate implementation ofthe portable product, subject to approval by IRDA.These formats comprise of standard• Product Brochure;• Proposal forms;• Policy wordings and schedules;• Definition of key terms;• Claims forms; and• Renewal notice format.II.6.21 The Council provided its views to the IRDA on(i) the concept of ‘Health plus Life combi products’leading to regulations allowing Health plus Life combiproducts to be offered in the market; (ii) Senior CitizensPolicy regulations; and (iii) Introduction of Free-lookperiod in health insurance.II.6.22 The matter related to parity between life andnon-life insurance companies in health insuranceportfolio was also pursued with IRDA.MotorII.6.23 The Superdari Case was pursued in theSupreme Court of India. Personal delivery of noticesby the officers of the General Insurance Council toPolice Authorities across the country not only speededup the process of hearing in the Court but also resultedin issuance of Government Order by a few states inline with the issues raised by the Council in its petition.This was later used to bolster the case for obtaining afavourable judgment which should result in timelyaction on recovery and disposal of stolen vehicles,thereby resulting in savings of several hundred crorerupees for the industry.II.6.24 The concept paper on ‘issuance of one pagepolicy in Motor insurance’ was submitted to IRDA,which was subsequently approved by the Authority.The issuance of policy without attaching terms andconditions would result in improvement of policyissuing process and also result in savings on accountof document printing and paper costs to the tune ofseveral crores rupees for the non-life industry.II.6.25 A project for developing long term Third PartyLiability rates for two wheelers was initiated. AnActuary was appointed for this purpose. The supportoffered by ICICI Lombard was enlisted to help theconsulting actuary with hardware, software and humanresources in processing and analysing the relevantdata.II.6.26 The Concept of Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB)was developed, deliberated upon and subsequentlyapproved by the Council. A committee was formed to72