IRDAI kick starts consultation for Public Insurance Registry

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on Tuesday released a consultation paper on the proposed Public Insurance Registry (PIR), describing it as a population-scale, interoperable and non-exclusionary digital public infrastructure (DPI).

The objectives of the PIR are to facilitate growth and inclusion, building trust and transparency, and promoting affordability and financial sustainability. It is significant step towards building a more connected, transparent, efficient and resilient insurance ecosystem, with trusted information serving as a foundation for better protection, innovation and public value, the regulator said.

The proposal, is in line with the objectives of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, 2025, draws inspiration from the success and lessons from DPIs in other sectors of Indian economy. It is intended to enable technology, governance and market participation to work together towards wider and deeper financial resilience.

PIR seeks to address information and interoperability gaps by establishing a consistent and authoritative view of insurance records, while enabling appropriate information to remain with the relevant source institutions. It has the potential to lower information barriers, promote competition and enable market participants to differentiate through product innovation, pricing, service quality and customer experience.

It would enable easier product discovery and comparison, a consolidated view of policies across insurers, reduced documentation, improved servicing and claims experiences and easier identification of unclaimed amounts, IRDAI said, fixing September 30 as the last date for submission of comments and feedback.

Welcoming IRDAI’s initiative, PB Fintech Joint Group CEO Sarbvir Singh said “for too long, insurance information has remained fragmented and asymmetric, spread across insurers, intermediaries, and policyholders without a unified, accessible framework. A centralised registry is a logical and necessary enabler – the consultation paper reflects a well-rounded vision for the sector’s future.”