Insurance Ombudsman in Kolkata resolves 100% complaints in FY23
Kolkata: Bima Lokpal Day is celebrated every year on November 11 to mark the foundation day of the Institution of ‘Insurance Ombudsman’. In 1998 on this day, the GoI had notified the ‘Redressal of Public Grievances Rules’.
Insurance Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial Grievance Redressal Machinery to redress complaints of insured persons against Life, Non-Life and standalone Health Insurance companies and brokers.
The main objective is for resolution of insurance complaints in a cost effective, efficient and in an impartial manner.
In the year 2017, GoI notified new rules in the matter called ‘Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017’.
The said Rules have been further amended by the Ministry of Finance as Insurance Ombudsman (Amendment) Rules, 2023 on November 9, 2023.
As per the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017, as amended till date, the Executive Council of Insurers (ECOI) (formerly Governing Body of Insurance Council (GBIC)) has been renamed as the Council for Insurance Ombudsmen (CIO).
The Council for Insurance Ombudsmen has been established for providing administrative support to the Offices of Insurance Ombudsman.
As on date, there are 17 offices of Insurance Ombudsman across the country, viz., Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Ernakulam, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Noida, Patna and Pune.
The Insurance Ombudsman does not charge any fee for resolution of the complaint of the aggrieved insured against the life, general and health insurance companies & Insurance Brokers.
During FY23, the total number of complaints across all 17 Insurance Ombudsman Offices was 51,103, out of which the Offices of Insurance Ombudsman had disposed of 51,625 complaints. The total disposal of complaints is 101 per cent.
For our Kolkata centre, the total number of complaints for the year 2022- 23 were 3,027 out of which we have disposed of 3,027 complaints. Thus, the total disposal of complaints for our centre is 100 per cent.
Online Registration of complaints has also been introduced since February 2021, whereby the complainant can register his complaint anytime, from anywhere and need not visit the Office of Insurance
Ombudsman.
