What supports you to make smarter choices and not fall victim to mis-selling? On one side there are regulations and on the other, responsibility, your responsibility.

IRDAI’s regulatory framework to protect policyholders has many measures and they get updated as well. There is a code of conduct for agents and other intermediaries. It forbids coercion and making false promises, while selling policies. There are declarations that the required and appropriate information and advice have been given about the product and suitability to your needs, benefit illustrations on payouts of the policy that comply with IRDAI’s definitions, documentation about what has been disclosed to you and whether it has been done in a language you are conversant with and more.

Free-look period

What is more, the free-look period of 15-30 days gives you a clear opportunity to exit the policy if you find it is unsuitable or different from what was promised. There are also long-standing, well-defined routes to grievance redressal from the insurer’s level to the regulator, ombudsmen, consumer courts and the regular court system as well.

Yet avoiding a problem decision is more valuable than trying to fix it. Regulation or supervision will not protect an irresponsible buyer. If you sign declarations and the proposal form blindly, you have signed away your independent decision-making and are party to the decision.

Sounds harsh? May be. But that is what responsibility is all about.

On regulation, better enforcement, fixing accountability for advice and stricter punishment for transgressions are definitely wanted.

An advisor and the insurer he represents should be held responsible for a policy and its outcome. Tracking persistency of life covers, for example, is one way to do it. The logic being, if you pay renewal premium, you are likely to be satisfied about your decision.

Persistency is indeed tracked as part of the advisor’s performance and it is one of the factors that affect his remuneration. But this is done only for the insurer’s performance and profitability as lapsed policies mean bad business not because it is bad for the customer. There are other systemic changes that can help better insurance decisions. Policies meant for standard coverage for individual turn up being pretty complicated. A routine hospitalisation policy runs into 40 pages and more. Even a no- frills policy like a personal accident policy is about 10 pages long. No wonder nobody reads them and are relieved to just sign on the dotted line!

Simpler and more transparent products will mean lower risk of misinterpretation. IRDAI regulations mandate policies be accompanied by a Customer Information Sheet (CIS) giving key policy features, benefits, and exclusions in a simple language. What is more, the policy and the CIS must be made available in any preferred regional language.

The sad thing is, just like the policy, the CIS is also rarely read by the customer!

Hopefully, the policy itself will be rewritten in simple everyday language some time in the future but whether it will be read is an open question.

Conclusion

Buying insurance is a one-time decision with a short but intense decision-making process. The product is intangible and deliverable at an unknown future date. So, learning about the product’s nuances rather than being led by ‘attractive’, headlined benefits is basic. Evaluating if it suits your specific needs and situation is critical.

You own the product, better own the process of buying it.

(The writer is a business journalist specialising in insurance & corporate history.)

Published on May 18, 2026