Rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application

Prabhat Nigam

13 Sep, 2022

Regulation 12 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Web Aggregators) Regulations, 2017 lays down the instances where rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application can take place.

Who are Insurance Web Aggregators?

The Insurance Web Aggregators are nothing but entities that collect, compile and provide additional information about various insurance products including their insurance policies on their website. They are intermediaries between insurance companies and the buyers of these insurance products. The listing of the products on the website can be compared by the buyers so that they can select the best possible option offered by the Insurance companies. These Insurance Web Aggregators are regulated by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Web Aggregators) Regulations, 2017.  

Rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application

The registrations granted or renewal of registration granted to any of the insurance brokers shall be subject to the following condition:

• Submission of Incomplete information

One of the main reasons for the rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application is filing of incomplete information which has been prescribed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (authority) of India. If the applicant fails to provide all the information sought by the authority, then such application will be rejected by the Authority.

However, it is not that the authority straight away rejects the application without giving the opportunity to the applicant. If the authority finds that the applicant has not furnished all the necessary details sought in the application form, then the authority before rejecting the application will give the applicant an opportunity to complete all the unfulfilled formalities within a period of 30 days from the receipt of communication from the authority. Once this period has passed and the applicant has failed to furnish the information sought from the authority, only then can the authority reject the application.

• Authority may ask for extra clarifications

Apart from the mandatory information sought in the prescribed application, the authority may have certain doubts regarding the credentials of the applicant and also regarding the business. The authority may ask for further clarifications from the applicant which the applicant needs to furnish to the authority to their satisfaction.

• Additional requirements to be filed within a time period of 30 days

If the applicant fails to furnish the extra information or clarification sought by the authority within a period of 30 days from the date of communication from the authority, then the authority has the right to return the application submitted by the applicant and ask him to file a fresh application. [if this clause is read conjointly with clause (c) of Regulation 5, then a conclusion can be drawn that there is no time limit that has been prescribed for fresh filing of the application in case the applicant wants to file a fresh application without getting the application rejected altogether]

If the applicant wants to avoid the scenario of filing of fresh application, then it needs to satisfy the authority with the reasons for non-submission of the information sought by the authority.

• Communication of order of rejection within 30 days

The order of rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration application shall be made to the applicant in writing explaining the grounds for the rejection of the said application. This order of rejection shall be communicated to the applicant within a period of 30 days from the date of rejection of the applicant.

Remedy available with the applicant in the event of Rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application 

In the event of rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application, the remedy that is available with the applicant lies in clause (e) of Regulation 12 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Web Aggregators) Regulations, 2017.

The applicant is left with the remedy of filing of appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against the order of rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation registration application given by the authority. It must be noted that such an appeal has to be made within a period of forty five days from the date of communication of such order of rejection to the applicant.  

Conclusion

The Insurance Web Aggregators license is not a difficult license to get if the applicant follows the check list given above. If an applicant wants to avoid the event of Rejection of Insurance Web Aggregation Registration Application, then he must furnish all the information prescribed by the IRDAI^[1] along with any other information sought by the authority for further clarification. And in case the application gets rejected by the authority, then the applicant can make an appeal before the SAT within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of order of rejection of application.    

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