IRDAI Allows Life Insurance Policy Purchase Without Signature Till Sep 2022
Last Updated : April 9, 2022, 10:35 a.m.
As you know purchasing a life insurance policy requires your physical signature. But due to the pandemic, this clause has recently been exempted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). And now the IRDAI has extended this facility by another six months. IRDAI’s circular dated March 31st, 2022 states that the purchase of life insurance policy will continue without signature till September 30th, 2022. For more information on this IRDAI announcement, read this page further.
How Will Life Insurance Policy Applications without Signature Go AHead?
You don’t need to visit the branch office to submit the signed application form for your life insurance plan. Instead, you need to enter an OTP that the company has sent to your registered email or mobile.
Insurance can be purchased online using an Aadhaar Card. Enter your Aadhaar number and the system will get your details from the UIDAI system. After extracting the details, the system sends an OTP to your registered mobile number to authenticate. When you confirm the same by entering OTP, the insurance company starts processing your application.
Purchase Norms Differ Based on Life Insurance Policy Premiums
Buying life insurance online has many advantages. First, you can compare and choose very easily between different insurance providers. IRDAI has mandated that insurance companies should issue policies in digital form for both online and offline purchases. However, policies that come with an annual premium of < INR 10,000 are exempted from this requirement.
Life Insurance with a cover < INR 1 or 10 Lakh will be issued electronically. The online process saves us from preserving insurance papers. With the digital process, your policy can be managed, retained and retrieved whenever you want.
IRDAI Timeline Extension for Health Plans
The period to provide documents and wet signatures for the application process for health insurance is now extended by the IRDAI. This is in reference to the IRDAI circular dated March 31st, 2022.
Due to COVID-induced lockdowns, people found it difficult to purchase health insurance. On September 10, 2020, IRDAI permitted health and general insurance to provide policy agreements through electronic or digital means.
The wet signature exemption remained valid till March 31st, 2021. However, IRDAI extended it until September 30, 2021,, due to the second wave. It later got extended till March 31, 2022. And because COVID is still affecting many parts of India, the exemption is extended further to September 30, 2022.
IRDAI has issued guidelines for providing health insurance plans that don’t require wet signatures on the proposal form hard copy. So, the insurers transmit the policy document and proposal form to your registered email address or mobile number in a digital or electronic format. It also permitted insurers to obtain consent from prospective clients in the same format. To confirm the agreement, click on a link or enter an OTP.