All about Corporate Agent and its registration process in India

All about Corporate Agent and its
registration process in India

The IRDAI, i.e., the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India, as per its regulations
of 2015, has mandated the registration of Corporate Agents in the Insurance market. The said
regulations become effective from April 1, 2016. Since then, multiple corporate agents have
registered under the above-mentioned IRDA's provisions.
Who can become a Corporate Agent in India?
Any existing business structure can become a Corporate Agent, such as

 Registered Companies
 Cooperative societies
 LLPs
 NGOs
 Rural Banks
 Micro Finance Lending Organizations
An Insurance Agent participates in soliciting, producing, and servicing the insurance business of
Insurers of all kinds, be it life, general, or composite.

Types of Corporate Agents in India

The Corporate Agents in India are broadly categorized into the following four types:

Life Insurance Corporate Agent: A Life Insurance Agent can engage with three life insurers.
They can solicit, procure and service their insurance products for policy pitching.

General Insurance Corporate Agent: A General Insurance Agent can engage three general
insurers simultaneously. They can also solicit, procure and service the corresponding insurance
products.

Health Insurance Corporate Agent: A Health Insurance Agent can engage with three health
insurers at a time for solicitation, procurement, and service provisions regarding the health
insurance products.

Composite Corporate Agent: A Composite Agent can apply for any or all of the above-
mentioned insurance products and services.

If the Insurance Agent wants to reflect any change in its Business's nature, then it can do so with
prior approval from the Authority. The Insurance Agent must make suitable arrangements for
servicing existing policyholders.

Are you eligible to become an Insurance Agent in India?

Every Insurance Agent must fulfill the following conditions before applying for the Agent
License registration with the IRDAI:

Nature of the Business

Any of the following entities can apply for its registration as a Corporate Agent in India:

 Company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act
 Limited Liability Partnership registered under the Limited Liability Partnership Act
 The following entities registered under the Co-operative Societies Act:

 Co-operative Society
 Non-Government Organization
 Micro Lending Finance Organization

o An RRB or Regional Rural Bank established under the Regional Rural Banks Act, Section 3

Necessary Infrastructure

The Insurance Agent applicant must build the required infrastructure to roll out their business
activities. By infrastructure, we mean the following:

 Adequately trained Workforce
 Adequate Office Space
 Adequate Equipment

Principal Officer Qualification

The principal officer of the Corporate Agent must be a graduate. He or She must have completed
at least 50 hours of training from a recognized institution approved by the IRDAI.

Code of Conduct

The Corporate Agent Licensee must strictly adhere to the IRDAI's set Codes of Conduct for the
Insurance Agents. Also, every License firm executive must have a Fit and Proper certificate
issued by a Competent Authority.

Net worth Requirements

The Insurance Agent applicant must maintain a minimum share capital of 50 Lakh rupees.

How to register your Business as a Corporate Agent Firm in India?

To register your Business as a licensed Corporate Agent Firm in India, the licensee must commit
to the following steps:

 Prepare the requisite documents to be attached to the registration application.
 File the online application for Insurance Agent registration and pay the application processing

fee.
 Submit the application and regularly check the application status on the official website. The

IRDAI, during the assessment period, can ask you to submit some missing details or prove the
authenticity of the submitted documents. The Authority can also summons the applicant.
 After successful registration, the Authority will grant you the Certificate of Registration for the
Corporate Agent.

Application Attachment for Corporate Agent Registration

The applicant must submit the following documents with the registration application:

 Certificate of Registration of the Business Entity
 Details of the Branch Offices (proposed or existing) of the applicant Firm
 Details of the Principal Officer of the applicant Firm
 Details of the individual directors or partners of the applicant Firm
 Organizational Chart briefing functional responsibilities of each Department in the organization

 Networth Certificate certified by a Chartered Accountant
 Declaration of Fit and Proper Criteria of Company's Personnel
 Payment Receipt of the Licenseeing Fee

Licensing Fee for the Corporate Agent Registration

Pre-Registration

Every Corporate Agent applicant must pay a non-refundable fee of ten thousand rupees plus
applicable taxes for the license registration as well as renewal. The applicant must pay the fee in
favor of the Insurance Regulator and Development Authority of India.

The applicant can pay the fee through a recognized Electronic Funds Transfer to the IRDAI. The
IRDAI will not entertain any application without the application fee.

Post-Registration

The newly registered Insurance Agent must, above all, pay an amount of 25 thousand rupees plus
applicable taxes within 15 days of the license registration. In addition, after receiving this post-
registration fee, the Authority will grant you the registration certificate to act as a Corporate
Agent under your chosen Insurance category.

Renewal Fee

Upon its license expiry, an Agent can apply for license renewal by filing an application for
renewal in the prescribed format. Along with the renewal applicant, the applicant must also pay a
fee of 25 thousand rupees to the Regulating Authority.

What is the validity of the Agent License?

The Registration Certificate of a licensed Corporate Agent is valid for three years. The validity is
noted from the date of its issue of the License. However, if, in any case, the Authority chooses to
revoke or cancel the License of the Corporate Agent, then the License will be expired before its
validity expires.

Unregistered Agent: What can go wrong?

If a business is impersonating as an Agent without holding a valid Agent license, then the
Regulating Authority will penalize the business under the Criminal Act and related Laws against

such violations. The director, manager's secretary, or other officers of the Corporate body and its
Partner will also be penalized in a court of law.

IRDA’s Corporate Agent Compliances

Every licensed Agent is permitted to solicit as well as service insurance business as per the set
regulations of the IRDAI. He or She must comply with the provisions of the following:

 Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999
 the Regulations, Circulars, Guidelines, and Instructions issued by the Government

Informing against Misinformation

An Agent must inform the Authority in writing if any particulars submitted by them to the
Authority are false or misleading and also file the application for the correction with the
Authority.

Redressal of Grievances

The Agent must take adequate steps to redress grievances for the clients. Also, the redressal must
be resolved within 14 days of such a complaint’s receipt. Also, the Authority instructs the Agent
to submit the number, nature, and other particulars of the complaints received by him to the
Authority in the prescribed format. The Agent can only solicit as well as procure a reasonable
number of insurance policies. They must commensurate with their resources as per the number
of specified persons they employ.

Insurance Policy Recordkeeping

A licensed Corporate Agent must maintain records to capture the policy-wise as well as the
person-wise details of the sold insurance. Every policy solicited by the Agent must be tagged to
the person. The exception is the simple products sold over the counter and approved by the
Regulating Authority.

FAQs

Q1. What is Corporate Agent in Insurance?

1. A corporate Agent is a person or a business entity who will market and pitch the Insurance
products and services of its clients, i.e., Insurers, to the potential consumers. An Agent is a
broker working for Insurance Companies.

Q2. How to become a Corporate Insurance Agent?

1. You can become an Agent in India by filing for Corporate Agent license registration with the
IRDAI. If you want the registration procedure, you can refer to this article’s section, “How to
register your Business as a Corporate Agent Firm in India?”.

Q3. Can you share some of the Corporate Agent regulations issued by the IRDAI?

1. In this article, we have detailed the Agents' compliances issued by the IRDAI in the “IRDA
Corporate Agent Compliances” section.

Q4. What are the different IRDA Corporate Agent registration fees?

A. There are majorly three types of licensing fee requirements for the license registration enlisted in the
following points:

1. Pre-registration Fee
2. Post-registration Fee
3. License Renewal Fee

SD: Learn all about the Corporate Agent: its meaning, types, purpose, scope, benefits,
operational condition, and registration process.