The regulatory overhaul intends to shift calculations to gross direct premium income while lowering expense caps from the current 30% for general insurers and 35% for standalone health firms down to 25% within two years and 20% over five years. Standalone health insurers, including Star Health, argue that non-commission mandatory lines give multi-line general insurers unfair flexibility to absorb higher retail costs. Specialized carriers maintain that distinct product structures and business models warrant separate regulatory limits. To ensure an equitable playing field, standalone providers are requesting that government schemes, crop insurance, and motor third-party policies be excluded f…
Key points
Standalone health carriers argue that differing business models and distribution costs ju…: Standalone health carriers argue that differing business models and distribution costs justify retaining separate regulatory expense caps.
General insurers can leverage commission-free mandatory policies to subsidize and absorb…: General insurers can leverage commission-free mandatory policies to subsidize and absorb retail customer acquisition expenses.
Standalone providers are petitioning the regulator to remove motor third-party cover, cro…: Standalone providers are petitioning the regulator to remove motor third-party cover, crop insurance, and government schemes from the expense calculation.
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The stakeholders have made the recommendation to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) as part of its feedback on the proposed changes to EoM regulations, said Nilesh Kambli, CFO, Star Health.
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"The point is, for government health business or for motor third-party business, which are mandatory in nature, there is no intermediary involved and should not be allowed for the 25% limit," said Kambli. "These should be removed from the base so that the EOMs are more reflective of the actual cost that is being used for distribution of consumer-facing products."
Star Health is one of India's leading standalone health insurers.
The regulator has proposed bringing general insurers and standalone health insurers under a common EoM framework, with the expense limit set to decline to 20% over five years. Under the transition discussed on the call, insurers would need to bring the limit down to 25% within two years.
Standalone health insurers have argued that government-sponsored health schemes and mandatory…
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