IRDA ULIP Guidelines

The Indian insurance industry regulator, the IRDA, has continued to issue 'guidance' with respect to unit linked insurance products (ULIP). India operates a file and use procedure for all life insurance products, so these have to be submitted to the IRDA before they can be sold to the general public. Those rules have been in place since 2001, shortly after the liberalisation of the Indian insurance market.

Life Insurers duly filed their products, including ULIPs, and started to sell these to the general public. The products were successful, which caused the IRDA to review the wordings. The IRDA has the obligation, inter alia, of protecting policyholder interests. On 21st December 2005 the IRDA issued its 'Guidelines for Unit Linked Life Insurance Products', which were aimed at the closer regulation of ULIPs with a view to ensuring that they met certain minimum criteria:

Reasonable insurance...