The proposed platform would serve eight key stakeholder groups
| Photo Credit:
sefa ozel
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on Tuesday proposed setting up a Public Insurance Registry (PIR) as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the insurance sector, aimed at making insurance more transparent, efficient, accessible and resilient.
IRDAI released a consultation paper on the proposed registry as part of efforts to further the objectives of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, 2025. The PIR is envisaged as a population-scale, interoperable and non-exclusionary digital infrastructure that would promote insurance coverage and inclusion while strengthening trust, affordability and financial sustainability.
The registry is proposed to address information and interoperability gaps by providing a consistent and authoritative view of insurance records, while allowing relevant information to remain with the respective source institutions. It could enable consumers to more easily discover and compare products, access a consolidated view of policies held across insurers, reduce documentation, improve policy servicing and claims experiences, and identify unclaimed amounts.
IRDAI said the PIR is envisaged not merely as a data repository but as an innovation platform and strategic investment in national economic infrastructure. It could strengthen consumer protection and market efficiency, expand insurance coverage, reduce information barriers and promote competition through better products, pricing, service quality and customer experience.
The proposed platform would serve eight key stakeholder groups. Policyholders and prospective customers could compare products, verify insurers and intermediaries, view policies and claims, and locate benefits or unclaimed amounts. Insurers could use the data to identify protection gaps and improve product design, underwriting, pricing, claims and customer service. Reinsurers could use standardised exposure and loss information, while intermediaries could access verified data for faster onboarding and servicing.
Regulators could use the infrastructure to monitor protection gaps, customer outcomes and early-warning indicators. Financial institutions could verify policy ownership and collateral cover and use insurance information in lending and risk assessment. Government agencies could use coverage-gap data for policy and programme monitoring, while researchers and think tanks could access approved anonymised datasets for analysing insurance trends and protection gaps.
The consultation paper seeks feedback on the proposed framework, including data architecture, identity framework, data standards, privacy and consent safeguards, commercial confidentiality, governance and implementation readiness.
Comments and feedback can be submitted through the designated portal or by email until September 30, 2026, IRDAI said in a release.
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