Mumbai: Indicating an improvement in customer service by non-life insurers and stringent regulatory regime, the number of customer complaints in general insurance has recorded a significant drop of 66 percent, according to a report.
The number of complaints dropped to 63,335 in 2013-14 from 1,86,615 in 2009-10, the report released jointly by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) and Consumer Affairs Department said.
A relative measure of complaints versus number of policies issued, the percentage has come down to 0.05 percent in 2013-14 from 0.21 percent in 2009-10, reflecting a decline of 75 percent during the period, the report added.
In motor insurance which comprises the largest portfolio for non-life insurers, it has fallen by to 28,000 from 85,000 in last five years, while claim-related complaints comprised 23.5 percent under the motor insurance segment, policy-related complaints comprised 18.6 percent in 2013-14.
In its bid to supervise complaints directly under the motor insurance segment, Irda has launched integrated grievance management system (IGMS), which enables policyholders to lodge complaints directly with the regulator.
The complaints registered through IGMS are maintained by all the non-life insurers and Irda as well.
In health insurance, the number of customer complaints has fallen to 23,500 in 2013-14 from 69,000 five years ago.
Similarly, claim-related complaints comprised 44 percent of total number of policies issued and policy-related complaints comprised 26 percent in 2013-14.
"There is a downward trend in grievances in my company
due to our increasing dependence on TPA (third party administrator) for settlement of claims and drastic reduction in communication gap with the policyholders," New India Assurance general manager and whole-time director K Sanath Kuma, told PTI.
Health insurance has grown by a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 25 percent during last five years, so as to reach the level of Rs 20,000 crore in 2013-14.
Total number of policies issued by the general insurers increased to 10.65 crore in 2013-14 from 9.68 crore in 2012-13.
At the country's largest private sector non-life insurance company ICICI Lombard, number of complaints versus total number of policies issued came down to 0.1 percent in 2013-14, against the mark of more than 1 percent in 2009-10.
"Individual processes of complaint redressal have improved during this period. While IGMs has helped each company look out complaints and redress them and also prevent them from taking place later, the electronic funds transfer through NEFT has also increased which has helped a lot in the reduction of consumers' complaints," ICICI Lombard head underwriting, Sanjay Datta said.
