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
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