India Infoline Insurance Brokers Limited has been fined Rs. 35.30 lacs for violating various rules as specified by market regulator IRDA. Among others, major charges that were pressed by the IRDA include:
Non compliance with Guidelines on Distance Marketing of insurance products – fine of Rs. 25 lacs levied. The company had employed around 99 employees who were not provided with requisite training to do distant marketing.
Penalty of Rs. 5 lacs for free distribution of insurance policies to the potential customers. IRDA looked at this marketing approach as a gimmick to lure customers to buy additional policies.
Penalty slapped of Rs. 5 lacs towards abnormally high free look cancellation. In this case 15 days are given to a policy holder to facilitate him to read the terms and conditions of the policy and reverse the purchase decision if he is not satisfied with it.
In addition to the above, the regulator also slapped a fine of Rs. 10,000 for each of the three years i.e 2008 – 09, 2009 – 10 & 2010 – 11 towards late payment of annual fees.
In totality the company was fined with Rs. 35.30 lacs for violating various rules and regulations.
The IRDA, commenting on the above, said that once the penalties are received, the license of the company can be renewed up to November 2014.
