IRDAI said that it decided to extend the deadline in view of the ongoing Covid-19 situation.
New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has extended the deadline for insurance companies to issue new health insurance policies in electronic form and without the requirement of physically signed proposal form (wet signature) till March 31, 2022.
This is not the first time the insurance regulatory body has decided to extend the deadline. In the first instance, the waiver of wet signature on the insurance policy was valid till March 31, 2021. Then, it was extended till September 30, 2021, amid the second wave of COVID-19.
IRDAI said that it has decided to extend the deadline till March next year in view of the continuing situation of the Kovid epidemic.
“In partial modification of clause no 5 of the circular dated September 10, 2020 referred to in respect of (a) electronic policy issuance and (b) health insurance policies dispensing with physical signature and wet signature on the proposal form, IRDAI issued a notification on Tuesday. It has been extended up to 31,2022.
The regulator also shared a similar announcement on Friday.
Earlier, IRDAI allowed health and general insurers to obtain consent of potential policy holders through a duly valid One Time Password (OTP), then did away with the practice of obtaining wet signatures.
The regulator had also exempted insurers from compulsorily sending hard copies of the document to policy holders. However, the policies have to be sent through electronic mode on the registered e-mail.
Insurers, IRDAI said, can obtain customer’s consent without the need of wet signature on hard copy, through OTP, through registered e-mail or mobile.
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