Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
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| Abbreviation | IRDA |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Parisrama Bhavan, Basheer Bagh, Hyderabad, Telangana |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 17°23′06″N 78°29′10″E / 17.385°N 78.486°ECoordinates: 17°23′06″N 78°29′10″E / 17.385°N 78.486°E |
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Chairman, IRDA
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T.S. Vijayan |
| Website | irda |
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is an autonomous, statutory agency tasked with regulating and promoting the insurance and re-insurance industries in India. It was constituted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, an act of Parliament passed by the government of India. The agency's headquarters are in Hyderabad, Telangana, where it moved from Delhi in 2001.
The IRDAI attempted to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 49 percent from its current 26 percent. The FDI limit in the sector was raised to 49 percent in June 2016.
In India insurance was mentioned in the writings of Manu (Manusmrithi), Yagnavalkya (Dharmasastra) and Kautilya (Arthasastra), which examined the pooling of resources for redistribution after fire, floods, epidemics and famine. The life-insurance business began in 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta; the company failed in 1834. In 1829, Madras Equitable began conducting life-insurance business in the Madras Presidency. The British Insurance Act was enacted in 1870, and Bombay Mutual (1871), Oriental (1874) and Empire of India (1897) were founded in the Bombay Presidency. The era was dominated by British companies.
In 1914, the government of India began publishing insurance-company returns. The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act, 1912 was the first statute regulating life insurance. In 1928 the Indian Insurance Companies Act was enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about life- and non-life-insurance business conducted in India by Indian and foreign insurers, including provident insurance societies. In 1938 the legislation was consolidated and amended by the Insurance Act, 1938, with comprehensive provisions to control the activities of insurers.
The Insurance Amendment Act of 1950 abolished principal agencies, but the level of competition was high and there were allegations of unfair trade practices. The Government of India decided to nationalise the insurance industry.
An ordinance was issued on 19 January 1956, nationalising the life-insurance sector, and the Life Insurance Corporation was established that year. The LIC absorbed 154 Indian and 16 non-Indian insurers and 75 provident societies. The LIC had a monopoly until the late 1990s, when the insurance industry was reopened to the private sector.
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