 IRDAI Proposes Public Insurance Registry to Build Digital Public Infrastructure for India’s Insurance Sector

Recent Developments:

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) released a consultation paper on 1 September 2026 proposing a Public Insurance Registry (PIR) as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the insurance sector.
• The proposed PIR is intended to address information gaps, fragmented records and interoperability challenges while creating a more transparent and efficient insurance ecosystem.
• The consultation is linked to the objectives of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, while its implementation will also have to operate within applicable data-protection and technology laws.
• IRDAI has invited comments on issues including data architecture, identity framework, data standards, privacy and consent safeguards, commercial confidentiality, governance and implementation readiness, with submissions due by 30 September 2026.

Public Insurance Registry: Concept and Objectives:

What is the PIR?

• The Public Insurance Registry is proposed as a population-scale, interoperable and non-exclusionary Digital Public Infrastructure for insurance.
• It is envisaged as a common information-exchange layer through which authorised participants can discover, verify and exchange insurance-related information without creating a conventional centralised database.
• The core objective is to create a consistent and authoritative view of insurance records while allowing relevant data to remain with the institutions that originally hold it.
• The PIR is therefore intended to function as an information and interoperability infrastructure, rather than merely as a repository containing copies of all insurance records.

Key Objectives:

• Promote insurance inclusion, transparency, trust, affordability and efficiency.
• Reduce information asymmetry between policyholders, insurers and intermediaries.
• Improve the quality of underwriting, claims management, fraud detection and risk assessment.
• Facilitate portability and informed comparison by making verified insurance information more accessible.
• Enable regulators and other authorised institutions to use reliable information for supervision, policy design and risk management.

Why is a Public Insurance Registry Needed?

Existing Information Gaps:

• Insurance information is distributed across multiple insurers, intermediaries and other institutions, making it difficult to obtain a consolidated view of an individual's insurance position.
• Customers may repeatedly provide information for KYC, policy servicing and claims, while insurers may lack easily accessible verified historical information.
• Fragmented claims and policy histories can increase information asymmetry, affect underwriting and make switching between insurers more difficult.
• Limited access to verified information can also increase the scope for mis-selling, fraud and inefficient product comparison.
• The PIR seeks to move the ecosystem towards a model in which insurance can increasingly be researched and purchased by informed consumers, rather than remaining predominantly dependent on intermediary-led information.

PIR and Digital Public Infrastructure:

UPI as the DPI Model:

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) demonstrates how DPI can transform an entire market by establishing interoperable infrastructure on which multiple service providers can operate.
• The significance of the DPI model lies in creating shared foundational infrastructure, rather than requiring every participant to build isolated systems.
• The PIR seeks to apply a similar approach to insurance by making interoperability and trusted information exchange foundational features of the ecosystem.

Core DPI Principles Relevant to PIR:

• Interoperability: Different systems should communicate and exchange information without requiring every provider to adopt an identical internal architecture.
• Minimalist building blocks: Public infrastructure should provide foundational capabilities while allowing private and institutional participants to develop their own applications and services.
• Federated architecture: Information can remain with the institution that collects or maintains it, while authorised systems interact through defined mechanisms.
• Non-exclusion: Infrastructure should support broad participation and should not become dependent on a single private provider or proprietary ecosystem.

Architecture and Data Governance:

Federated Data Architecture:

• The PIR proposes source-system primacy, under which relevant information remains with the source institution instead of being copied into one universal central database.
• This architecture can reduce the risks associated with concentrating sensitive insurance information in a single repository.
• However, a federated model does not eliminate privacy risks because identity, authentication, authorisation, data-sharing protocols and query mechanisms must still be securely governed.

Data Protection and Consent:

• PIR implementation must be aligned with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and other applicable legal and technological safeguards.
• Key concerns include purpose limitation, consent, access control, data minimisation, cybersecurity, commercial confidentiality and accountability.
• The consultation itself recognises privacy, consent and commercial confidentiality as important design questions.

Institutional and Governance Framework:

Role of Insurance Information Bureau:

• The proposed governance framework envisages restructuring the Insurance Information Bureaof India (IIB) into a not-for-profit entity wholly owned by IRDAI.
• The model seeks to combine regulatory legitimacy with independent operational execution.
• Proposed features include institutional neutrality, independent execution and rotating industry representation.
• Effective governance will be essential to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that infrastructure serving the entire insurance ecosystem is not dominated by particular market participants.

Phased Implementation:

• The PIR is proposed to be developed through a phased approach, allowing use cases and technical specifications to evolve with stakeholder participation.
• This approach can help identify interoperability, data-quality and cybersecurity problems before large-scale implementation.
• The proposal currently remains at the consultation stage, and a specific operational implementation date has not been established in the available regulatory material.

Stakeholder-Level Benefits:

For Policyholders:

• A consolidated view of policies, nominees, renewals, claims and unclaimed benefits can improve consumer awareness and policy servicing.
• Easier access to verified information can strengthen portability, comparison and informed decision-making.

For Insurers and Intermediaries:

• Verified policy and claims histories can improve underwriting, risk assessment, pricing, claims processing and fraud prevention.
• Standardised information exchange can reduce duplication and improve operational efficiency.

For Reinsurers and Regulators:

• Aggregated and standardised exposure information can strengthen catastrophe-risk assessment, regulatory supervision and financial resilience.
• Better information can support more accurate assessment of systemic and sector-wide insurance risks.

For Financial Institutions and Government:

• Verified insurance information can help financial institutions assess policy ownership and collateral coverage while strengthening borrower-risk assessment.
• Government agencies can use authorised insurance information and coverage-gap insights for policy formulation, welfare delivery and resilience planning.

Linkages with Other Insurance Reforms:

Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, Bima Sugam and PIR:

• The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025 provides an important statutory context for ongoing insurance-sector reforms.
• Bima Sugam is being developed as a digital insurance marketplace, while the PIR is intended to strengthen the underlying information and interoperability infrastructure.
• These initiatives address different layers of the ecosystem: PIR focuses on trusted information infrastructure, while Bima Sugam focuses on digital access and transactions.
• IRDAI has indicated that initial Bima Sugam products covering areas such as motor, health and term insurance were expected around September 2026, subject to technology integration by insurers.

Significance for the Indian Economy:

• Improved information availability can reduce transaction costs and information asymmetry in insurance markets.
• Better underwriting and fraud detection can strengthen insurer financial sustainability.
• Faster and more reliable claims processing can improve consumer confidence and insurance penetration.
• Better exposure information can strengthen disaster-risk financing and catastrophe preparedness.
• Verified insurance information can potentially support credit markets, particularly where insurance coverage forms part of risk assessment or collateral protection.
• The broader significance of PIR lies in shifting insurance competition towards product innovation, pricing, service quality and customer experience rather than information advantage.

Challenges and Critical Issues:

Data Privacy and Cybersecurity:

• Federated architecture reduces the need for a single central repository but does not remove risks involving unauthorised access, identity theft, data leakage and cyberattacks.
• Strong consent, authentication, access-control and audit mechanisms will therefore be essential.

Data Standardisation and Interoperability:

• Different insurers and institutions may use different data formats, identifiers and legacy IT systems.
• Effective interoperability will require common standards without forcing participants to abandon their internal systems.

Participation and Data Completeness:

• If participation begins voluntarily, incomplete adoption could produce an incomplete information layer.
• Wider participation will therefore depend on clear incentives, regulatory clarity and demonstrable benefits.

Governance and Institutional Independence:

• The proposed ownership and industry-representation structure must maintain regulatory neutrality and operational independence.
• Governance arrangements will determine whether the PIR remains a public-interest infrastructure rather than becoming vulnerable to industry concentration or regulatory capture.

Balancing Transparency with Commercial Confidentiality:

• Greater information sharing can improve market efficiency, but sensitive commercial, actuarial and customer information must not become unnecessarily accessible.
• Access should therefore follow clearly defined purpose, authorisation and accountability frameworks.

Way Forward:

• Establish clear data-governance and consent standards before large-scale implementation.
• Adopt interoperable data standards while preserving flexibility for insurers' internal systems.
• Implement strong privacy-by-design, cybersecurity and audit mechanisms.
• Use phased pilots to test high-value use cases before nationwide expansion.
• Create transparent governance mechanisms with clearly defined roles for IRDAI, IIB, insurers, intermediaries and other stakeholders.
• Ensure that PIR complements rather than duplicates existing platforms such as Bima Sugam, Central KYC infrastructure and sector-specific databases.

Value Addition for UPSC:

GS-II — Governance and Regulatory Institutions:

• IRDAI: Statutory regulator for the insurance sector; PIR illustrates the role of regulatory institutions in building digital public infrastructure and strengthening consumer protection.
• Key themes: Regulatory governance, institutional accountability, data protection, transparency and citizen-centric digital services.

GS-III — Economy and Financial Sector:

• PIR is relevant to financial inclusion, insurance penetration, fintech, digital economy, risk management and financial stability.
• It demonstrates how public digital infrastructure can reduce information asymmetry and transaction costs in financial markets.

GS-III — Disaster Management:

• Consolidated exposure information can strengthen catastrophe-risk assessment, disaster preparedness and risk-financing mechanisms.

Essay / Interview Keywords:

• Digital Public Infrastructure
• Interoperability
• Federated Data Architecture
• Source-System Primacy
• Information Asymmetry
• Data Protection
• Financial Inclusion
• Consumer Protection
• Insurance Penetration
• Privacy by Design
• Public-Private Innovation

Prelims Facts to Remember:

• PIR: Proposed Public Insurance Registry.
• Regulator: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.
• Consultation Paper: Released on 1 September 2026.
• Consultation Deadline: 30 September 2026.
• Core Model: Digital Public Infrastructure.
• Architecture: Interoperable and federated, with source-system primacy.
• Related Reform: Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025.
• Related Digital Platform: Bima Sugam.

Institutional Link: Insurance Information Bureaof India (IIB).