Insurance Repository – features, forms download

Insurance Repository- Features, Benefits,eIA Account, Forms Download

Insurance Repository is a paper less storage system of all insurance policies held by the investors. It is similar to Demat System used for storing and transacting Shares and Mutual Fund Policies. All IRDA registered Insurance companies in India need to issue Insurance policies if Policy holder requires it in electronic form. At present Insurance policy holders have option to hold their policies either in Physical form or Electronic form (Through Insurance Repository Stystem). Insurance Repository system in India is an initiative of IRDA in the lines of Demat system started a decade ago.

Five Insurance Repository Service Providers (Known as Insurance Repositories or IR) are approved by IRDA to provide these services to insurance policy holders in India.  All these Insurance Repositories will be regulated by IRDA.  The five Insurance Repositories are

1)  NSDL Database Management Ltd

2)  Central Insurance Repository Ltd

3)  SHCIL Projects Ltd

4)  Karvy Insurance Repository Ltd

5) CAMS Repository Services Ltd

Opening and Maintaining of Electronic Insurance Account (e IA) is completely FREE. No charges need to be paid by investors. Charges for services are paid by Insurance Companies to these repositories.

There are multiple benefits in Opting new insurance policies in electronic mode or converting  existing paper insurance policies into electronic form and hold them all under a single  e Insurance Account ( e IA). These benefits include:

  1. Safety: There is no risk of loss or damage of a policy as may happen with paper policies; the electronic form ensures that the policies are in safe custody and can be easily accessed when needed.
  2. Convenience: All details of all your insurance policies are available in a single account (place). The details of any of the policies can be accessed at any time by logging on to the online portal with the login id and password provided by your Insurance Repository.  Premium for all the policies can be paid online and many service requests or complaints can be logged at this website.
  3. Single Point of Service: All service requests in respect of all the electronic policies held under the eIA can be submitted at any of CAMS Repository’s service points – there is no need to go to the offices of individual insurance companies for service.

Download E Insurance Account (Insurance Repository account) Opening Form ( CAMS)

Download E Insurance Account Conversion form from Physical Form to Electronic Mode 

Download Service Request form for Change of address etc., for E Insurance Account

To open Insurance Account to get policies in demat form either PAN Card OR AADHAR card is mandator

When submitting your eIA application, please ensure that you provide copies of your PAN or Aadhar, Address Proof and proof of date of birth, along with a passport size photograph. You also need to show the original of address proof for verification.

Documents required to open e Insurance Account (e IA)

ID Proof:

Either PAN Card or AADHAR Card.

Residence Proof:

  1. A copy of any one of the following documents should be submitted as proof of address; the original of the relevant address proof should be produced for verification by Insurance Repository representavive:
    1. Ration Card
    2. Passport
    3. Aadhar letter
    4. Voter ID card
    5. Driving license
    6. Bank Passbook (not more than 6 months old)
    7. Verified copies of
      1. Electricity bills (not more than 6 months old),
      2. Residence Telephone bills (not more than 6 months old) and
      3. Registered Lease and License agreement / Agreement for sale.
    8. Self‐declaration by High Court and Supreme Court judges, giving the new address in respect of their own accounts.
    9. Identity card/document with address, issued by
      1. Central/State Government and its Departments,
      2. Statutory/Regulatory Authorities,
      3. Public Sector Undertakings,
      4. Scheduled Commercial Banks,
      5. Public Financial Institutions,
      6. Colleges affiliated to universities; and
      7. Professional Bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, Bar Council etc. to their Members.

The following types of insurance policies are eligible to be held in electronic form:

  1. All individual life insurance policies including health and pension policies. Policies issued to groups by registered life insurance companies can also be held in electronic form.
  2. All general insurance policies held by individuals including group policies
  3. Any other class of insurance policies that may be notified by IRDA from time to time

However, initially, only life insurance policies which are long time in tenure can be held in electronic form under an e IA.

Investors desiring to hold their Insurance policies in demat or electronic form need to open an e IA (e Insurance Account) from ANY ONE of the above Insurance Repositories. An Investors can not have more than one e IA account as per IRDA regulation.  So if one opens an e IA account with Karvy, then he can not open another e IA with any other repository. All five repositories are interlinked to check for duplicate accounts and if any application for duplicate e IA account is found, it will be rejected. So an investor can have only one e IA account and will be provided an Unique e Insurance Account Number and a login id and password.

Opening time of e Insurance Account under insurance repository system in India is 7 working days.   After opening account, Insurance repository will act as the Single Point of Service for all your policies held in electronic form, across Insurers. No need to change details like address change with every insurance company.

On opening your e Insurance Account, you will get a Welcome Kit with full particulars of your eIA along with an User Guide. The password for accessing your eIA details online will be sent to you separately. Once a year, a hard copy of your Statement of Insurance (SOI) with full details of all policies held under your eIA shall be sent to your postal address. In addition, a SOI giving the details of all policies held by you shall be sent to you by email whenever you make a financial transaction with respect to any of your electronic policies (including when you buy additional insurance or one of your policies matures or is surrendered).

Insurance account demat system is yet to be effective and will take time to be wide spread. More over at present only Life Insurance Policies are opened in demat mode. Investors still have option to hold their insurance policies in physical form unlike shares which are compulsorily transacted in demat mode.  To reap better benefits from Insurance system like low cost of operations, better reach ability, maximum participation from investors is required.

insurance repository opening kit handover ceremony

Photo Courtesy: Sakshi Daily