Now IRDA Looking At Grievance Redress System For Agents Posted on January 3, 2014 by P Kumar

In a move that can benefit lakhs of insurance agents, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is considering setting up of a grievance redress system for agents.

Currently, there is no recourse available for insurance agents in case of any issue with the insurers. Therefore, a separate system to handle complaints from agents would make sense given the large number of agents both in the life and non-life sectors working for 48 life and non-life insurers operating in the country.

There has been significant improvement in resolving customer related grievance in the last couple of years after introduction of a call centre and real-time complaint monitoring system by the regulator.

As agents play an important role in business, they should also be provided a hassle-free functional environment for insurance growth, said IRDA.

The issues for agents are many and varied. There are operational issues such as procedures to be followed in policy revivals. This makes difficult for an agent who is answerable to the policyholder.

Similarly, attention is not being given to renewal business. They are chased till a new proposal is closed and after that little attention is paid. Agents say if there is a place where they could voice all these problems effectively it augurs well for the entire insurance sector.

vinay mohanty