The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has zoomed in on customer-centricity and grievance handling in a high-level meeting with chief compliance officers (CCOs) and grievance redressal officers (GROs), using the forum to call for stronger protection of policyholders and stricter adherence to resolution timelines.
At the Nov. 26 meeting, IRDAI reviewed how insurers manage complaints, classify customer contacts, and operate their internal redressal frameworks. The session, which brought together compliance and grievance heads from all insurers, served as a sector-wide review of whether current practices align with the regulator’s expectations on policyholder treatment.
Opening the discussion on India’s Constitution Day, IRDAI chair Ajay Seth linked the values of justice, equality, and liberty to the conduct of insurance institutions, and said trust remains fundamental to the contract between insurer and customer. He said compliance and grievance functions are key to maintaining that trust across product, servicing, and claims lifecycles.
During the review, IRDAI examined the effectiveness of existing grievance mechanisms and how insurers are implementing regulatory norms on complaint handling. The authority also heard from insurance ombudsmen in Bhopal and Thane, who outlined operational challenges and recurring issues in cases escalated to their offices.
The regulator flagged rising complaint volumes and said insurers need to improve both the quality and timeliness of their responses. Companies were told to adopt clear standard operating procedures to distinguish between complaints and service requests, to reduce misclassification and ensure that genuine grievances receive appropriate attention.
IRDAI also asked insurers to strengthen internal systems to meet prescribed timeframes and to give greater weight to policyholder outcomes in their processes. The regulator said grievance data should be used to identify emerging risks rather than only as a compliance measure. Seth told attendees: “Compliance cannot be a department – it must be a mind-set. And grievance redressal cannot be the end of a process– it must be our early warning system. When in doubt, choose the customer. If we do that consistently, trust will follow, growth will follow, and the industry will stand stronger than ever.” He described CCOs and GROs as the “conscience and credibility” of insurance companies.
The meeting’s themes aligned with Seth’s address on Bima Lokpal Day, in which he outlined gaps in coverage and customer outcomes. Seth described grievance statistics as an important indicator of policyholder trust. Over the past year, 2.57 lakh policyholder grievances were registered on the Bima Bharosa platform, with a resolution rate above 99%.
Seth cautioned that averages should not obscure individual experiences. “Behind every complaint is a person – often someone dealing with illness, loss, or distress. Our aim must not just be to resolve complaints, but to prevent them. That is where good governance, transparent communication, and responsible selling practices come in,” he said.
Seth also pointed to the Bima Lokpal system as an external redressal forum. Complaints to ombudsmen rose from 52,300 in FY 2022–23 to 53,230 in FY 2023–24, with 54% relating to health insurance. Around 33,000 hearings were held during the year, mostly online, and complaint registration through digital channels increased.
With the opening of an 18th ombudsman office in Thane, carved out from the Pune and Mumbai jurisdictions, the network now provides policyholders across India with a channel for disputes such as delayed claims, servicing issues, and contested denials. Seth said the institution “is not just about resolving complaints – it’s about restoring trust, especially for those who may feel unheard in a complex system.”
