Let Regulations Become The Lodestar: Yashish Dahiya

If regulations in the insurance industry remain guiding principles and allow companies to do the right thing for the consumers, the industry will grow, says Yashish Dahiya, Group CEO, and Co-founder of Policybazaar.

 "A lot of regulations have their genesis in the pre-digital era. The insurance industry has evolved considerably since, and the pace of change can only quicken," said Dahiya at a webinar organized by ASSOCHAM on 'Covid-19: Challenges and opportunities for the insurance sector.'

"I think one has to be thankful to the regulator for the many changes that have occurred in the last 10-12 years. IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) has taken a lot of steps towards digitization of the industry to benefit the consumers. For example, IRDAI had proposed the digitization of insurance policies in 2013 and made it mandatory in 2017. With this initiative, the insurance industry reached new heights," Dahiya added.

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Last year, the IRDAI regulations allowed for the creation of a regulatory sandbox to create an enabling environment for insurance tech and fintech companies to innovate in this space. 

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"It is difficult to do business in the digital world because there is still a myriad of regulations and whether that has to do with Insurance or India per se, I don't know. Many sectors in India could do with a bit of deregulation. Regulation is vital but it should not make life cumbersome," said Dahiya. 

Dahiya also said that overall, the digital channel in insurance made up 20-30% in the market and it will scale up fast.

"There are 3-4 trends in the last 10-12 years. One is the consumer wanting to buy insurance in times of a pandemic. People want to buy health insurance and term insurance as protection against death, disease, and disability. The third is digital fulfillment which is issuing insurance policies without the need for a physical meeting, whether it's through self-inspection or telemedical," he added. 

"The big changes that companies have brought about in the last six weeks especially, from the life insurance side to issue more and more policies remotely, is something they couldn't think of doing in the last 2-3 years," said Dahiya. "I won't be surprised if, after five years, digital insurance accounts for 40% of the industry," he added.

Krishnan Ramachandran, MD, and CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance was of the view that over the last seven years, the industry has been focussed on digitization but different players are in different stages of the evolutionary curve, and how quickly they are able to adapt their distribution models to this new reality will decide growth. "But I see that the industry will grow because the demand is there," he said.

(Article edited by: Sunny Lamba)

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