Facts and benefits about E-insurance account

Storage of important Insurance documents only in physical form is unsafe as they are always at the risk of physical damage. One should always have the backup option to safeguard his/her prime documents. It is recommended to keep the documents in electronic form as an option to storing the documents in physical form.

Storage of the documents in electronic form also makes them easily accessible at the time of need. Being prepared can mean a big difference in adverse situations for safety of your important documents. Now, the good news is documents can be stored electronically by opening Electronic Insurance Account (eIA) with any of the IRDAI approved insurance repositories in India.

Government has launched Free Digital Vault Service and DigiLocker to store all such important documents. DigiLocker Account can be opened by using Aadhaar ID which is linked to mobile number. Another option is to store the documents on cloud like Google Documents which can be accessible on smart phones as well.

There are also private companies which provide end to end document management solution and help to store documents in digital format by charging nominal fees. Insurance regulator IRDAI has also issued guidelines on Insurance Repositories and electronic issuance of insurance policies which specifically emphasizes the need to keep the Life, General and Health Insurance Policies in digitized format.

 

You can choose among the mentioned insurance repositories for opening eIA account;

1. NSDL Database Management Ltd.
2. Central Insurance Repository Ltd.
3. Karvy Insurance Repository Ltd.
4. CAMS Repository Services Ltd.

 

Objective of an Insurance Repository

Providing policyholder’s facility to keep insurance documents in electronic form is the main objective of Insurance repositories along with it Insurance repositories undertake changes, modifications and revisions in the insurance policy with complete accuracy & speed.

In addition, the repository acts as a single stop for several policy services requirements. The Insurance repository system also brings efficiency and transparency in the issuance and maintenance of insurance policies.

What is e-Insurance Account (eIA)? 

“eIA” stands for Electronic Insurance Account. This e-Insurance account gives policyholders access to their insurance portfolio just on few clicks.

 

Electronic Insurance Account is a facility that allows you to hold insurance policies in the electronic form and helps you to manage all your insurance policies through a single online window, free of cost.

This kind of e-account has many advantages the biggest is the fact that it empowers insured customers/policyholder to get access to their insurance policies at one place enabling them tracking of their policies and store all the details in electronic form without the fear of losing or having a damaged physical document, in case of a natural catastrophe or fire incidents. Holding documents in electronic form with repositories is safe option, since the repository has a robust infrastructure and is credible organizations.

 

Advantages:

1. It is totally free & secured
2. All insurance policies can be converted into electronic format and can be held under single account ID.
3. Easy access to the policy documents to the insured and nominee through one common interface.
4. No need for repeated submission of KYC documents. Changing personal details such as address, phone number, nominee details etc. will all be done quickly and in easy manner.
5. Less paper work and time saving.
6. Every e-Insurance Account carries a unique Account number and to access the electronic policies online each such account holder is provided with a unique Login ID and Password.
7. Everything being stored on online platform no need to contact Insurance Companies office to access your policy documents when in urgent need.
8. In an unfortunate event of death of eIA account holder, the nominee selected the policy holder/eIA account holder gets the automatic access to the stored documents.

 

Insurance e-commerce regulation recommends that Insurance companies should within 15 days create an eIA account for their online customers.

 

Insurance policies applicable for holding in electronic form

All General insurance policies including standalone health insurance policies, Life insurance policies & annuity policies issued by Insurance companies in India having agreement with Insurance repositories are applicable for holding the policy documents in electronic form.

 

With Government pushing all the service to digital, the adoption of Electronic platform would improve the services towards the Insurance customers. The challenge remains in educating the large population about the benefits of storage of documents in electronic form.

 

Challenges:

1. Emphasize should be on educating customers for opening of the E-Insurance account highlighting the advantages to the policy holder’s and spreading awareness.
2. Insurance companies should become facilitator for their customers to protect their Insurance Policies electronically.
3. Everything being stored in electronic form creates huge cost for Insurance companies in managing the data along with the concern of data security.

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