Section 19 in Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Non-Linked Insurance Products) Regulations, 2019
19. Group Non-Linked Products.
(a)Employer-Employee Group Products: The following group products shall be permitted for employer- employee groups:i. Group Term Insurance products.ii. Group Savings Insurance products.iii. Group Credit Life Insurance products.iv. Single Premium Group Term Insurance Products.v. Micro Insurance products.vi. One-year renewable Group Term Insurance products.vii. One-year renewable Group Health Insurance products.viii. Group annuity products with the options prescribed under Regulation 18(a) under these Regulations.(b)Non-Employer-Employee Group Products: The following group products shall be permitted for Non-employer-employee groups:i. Group Term Insurance products.ii. Group Credit Life Insurance products.iii. Single Premium Group Term Insurance products offered to only non-employer-employee homogeneous groups.iv. Micro Insurance products.v. One-year renewable Group Health or Term Insurance products.vi. Government (Central or State) sponsored Group Insurance Products or Schemes.(c)For the purpose of these Regulations, non-employer-employee homogeneous group shall mean:i. Any association, where the member represents a particular profession or trade or domestic workers or anganwadi workers.ii. Government agencies.iii. Any cooperative societies.iv. Parents of school or college students as members.v. Any other groups as may be approved by the Authority.(d)For the purpose of these Regulations, group savings insurance products shall mean:(i)Group Non-Linked Superannuation Product.(ii)Group Non-Linked Gratuity Product.(iii)Group Leave Encashment Product.(iv)Group Post-Retirement Medical Product.(v)Group products with significant savings element.(e)The group savings non-linked policies stipulated in Regulations 19 (d) (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) under these Regulations shall have minimum risk cover as approved under product filing procedure, with an explicit mortality cost levied.(f)The premium with respect to group products shall be made in accordance with the funding requirements as per the scheme rules. The trustee or employer or policyholder shall be required to confirm that such funding is required as per extant accounting standard governing the measurement of long term employee benefits.(g)The group savings non-linked products shall not allow any top-ups, unless required to address the underfunding of the scheme as per extant accounting standard governing the measurement of long term employee benefits.(h)The group savings non-linked products may levy a surrender charge not exceeding such per cent of the total fund value subject to an absolute amount, as stipulated by the Authority, if the policy is surrendered within third annual renewal of the policy. Currently, the surrender charge shall not be exceeding 0.05 per cent of the total fund value with a maximum of Rupees Five Lac. if the policy is surrendered within third annual renewal of the policy.(i)Group savings non-linked superannuation products may offer risk cover with an explicit premium for the cover.(j)The group insurance schemes shall be administered in compliance with the directions issued from time to time regarding data management, collection of premium, issuance of certificate of insurance, claim settlement, reimbursement of expenses to master policy holders and other administrative matters.(k)In case of surrender of the group policy, other than fund based group policies, the insurer shall give an option to the individual members of the group, on such surrender, to continue the policy as an individual policy and the insurer/intermediary if any, shall continue to be responsible to serve such members till their coverage is terminated.(l)Declaration of Interest Rates under Group Savings Insurance Products:i. The insurers shall keep a separate account of all receipts and payments in respect of each policy under Group Savings insurance products. The valuation of assets and liabilities shall be in accordance with IRDAI (Assets, Liabilities and Solvency Margin of Life Insurance Business) Regulations, 2016 and other relevant Regulations.ii. The interest rate credited to each fund and expenses charged to such funds shall be in accordance with the Board approved policy of the insurer.iii. However, such interest rates shall be declared by the insurers at regular intervals based on the fund size with appropriate disclosure in the insurer's website.iv. Interest rates shall need to be declared in such a way that there shall be no discrimination amongst identical policyholders in terms of fund size.v. Interest rates as well as expenses, if any, which need to be charged to the fund shall be stated explicitly in the product filing documents.Chapter: IX Surrender Value
