Insurance at the speed of light

A slew of products and ‘insurtech’ have made the process of buying a plan as well as claims settlement easier and faster

The process of buying an insurance policy is unrecognisable today compared to two decades ago. Competition and a flood of products and options have combined with the galloping awareness and needs of the insuring public. Insurtech, or technology in insurance, has stepped in to reduce much of the friction in buying insurance or getting claims. Contrast this to the early days of life insurance when underwriters met every six months to consider the handful of life insurance proposals received and to determine whether to write the risk or not! Timely premium collections and claims payments were always a challenge in the offline world. But, no more. In India, by the early nineties, credit cards had become commonplace and Internet banking entered the scene by the late nineties. In 200,1 The Insurance Act, 1938 was amended to allow various methods of payment of premium, including credit card and Internet banking.