Weekly Insurance Round-up Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Hey there! 👋
We're back with the next edition of Beshak's Weekly News Round-up - an analysis of all Insurance News & Updates, straight from our research desk! Don't forget to share your feedback with us, and give us a thumbs up if you find this helpful!
Let's get started! 🚀
✴️ SEBI bans AMCs from offering insurance products bundled with mutual funds 🚫
✴️ IRDAI to extend the regulatory sandbox mechanism testing period ⌛
✴️ Mahindra Insurance partners with Agri Digital Platform BigHaat 🤝
✴️ SahiPay to help enhance insurance in rural India ⬆️

- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has prohibited Asset Management Companies (AMCs) to provide life insurance products bundled with mutual funds.
- In a letter dated 17th June 2022, SEBI requested that the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) notify all AMCs that no existing or future schemes shall have bundled products.
- Mutual funds provide free life insurance coverage when you start SIP investments under SIP insurance plans.
- Mutual fund institutions provide insurance benefits at no additional cost. And, most SIP insurance products offer life coverage of up to 100 to 120 times the SIP investment, subject to a ceiling of ₹50 lakhs.
- Industry experts suggest that one must keep their investment and insurance requirements separate, as these bundled options can stop at any time.
Source: LiveMint

- IRDAI is considering extending the testing of products under the regulatory sandbox mechanism for up to three years.
- This decision, along with other initiatives, is taken in an attempt to reach more and more people and thus, increase insurance penetration in the country.
- The term "Regulatory Sandbox" typically refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled environment where the regulator may or may not allow certain relaxations for the limited purpose of testing.
- The present testing period is restricted to six months, but IRDAI is considering extending it to three years.
- The IRDAI is also looking at the possibility of allowing smaller players into the insurance sector. The IRDAI chairman stated that these businesses will need to have a technological backbone, and insurtech is available to enable them cater to those areas of the country that are yet unserved.
Source: The Economic Times

- BigHaat, an Agri Digital platform, and Mahindra insurance broker, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (Mahindra Finance) have come together to offer health and motor insurance policies.
- With this partnership, both Mahindra insurance and BigHaat aim in promoting the government’s goal of higher insurance penetration in rural India.
- Customers will be able to purchase health insurance policies through the BigHaat website and mobile app.
- The health insurance policy will offer:
- Sum insured of up to 5 Lakhs.
- Hospital cash allowance of ₹10,000 for 15 days. (will be launched as part of the insurance policy in a year)
- The policy can be taken in various combinations and can include self, spouse, Children, and parents.
- This collaboration will provide financial solutions to India's informal Agri workforce.
- BigHaat is a farmer-centric Agri Digital platform that provides farmers with complete tailored technical support, accessibility, and a wide range of high-quality inputs.
Source: The Economic Times

- SahiPay is offering easy access to insurance and banking products in the semi-urban and rural parts of the country.
- To raise awareness and enhance penetration in rural India, it has started offering a variety of low-cost health and non-life insurance options, including vehicle and personal accident insurance.
- Through its 2500+ devoted insurance brokers, SahiPay has processed over 27,000 policies in less than 7 months.
- SahiPay has also partnered with SBI Insurance to offer simple and affordable insurance products in rural India. In a short amount of time, the SahiPay and SBI partnership has insured over 10,000 unique customers across 22 states.
- SahiPay is a high-tech smart and secure digital platform launched by Manipal Business Solutions. In addition to insurance, it also provides doorstep banking and a variety of value-added services that are digitally empowering citizens in India.
Source: Financial Express
We need your feedback 🙏
Love it? Hit the 'It's perfect' button below! Have a suggestion to improve our content? Please leave us a comment. We absolutely appreciate it!
Be the first to get this weekly news analysis, on your phone. Join the exclusive Telegram Channel for Financial Advisors 👉 t.me/beshakforadvisors

We are a group of young members of the Beshak community. We come together to brainstorm, write relevant and useful content for people (just like us) who want to figure insurance on their own. If you too want to share inputs/write for us - send us a "hey" to info@beshak.org