Insurance Act, 1938

Before you buy a health policy from an app on your phone, there is a quiet question you never ask: is this company allowed to sell insurance at all? Someone has to check that it has a licence, enough money to pay claims and honest people running it. In India that someone is a regulator working under the Insurance Act, 1938, the oldest and still the central statute of the industry. What does this Act say, and which of its sections does an examiner expect you to know?

In two minutes

The Insurance Act 1938 is the principal Indian statute on insurance business: it defines the classes of insurance, requires registration of insurers (s.3), sets solvency and conduct rules, imposes rural and social sector duties (ss.32B–32D), regulates assignment, nomination and repudiation of life policies (ss.38, 39, 45) and requires premium before risk (s.64VB).

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