Frequently Asked Questions

“Insurance Repository” means a company formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) and which has been granted a certificate of registration by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for maintaining data of insurance policies in Electronic form on behalf of Insurers. The Insurance Repositories provide the ease of holding insurance policies issued in an electronic form.

eIA stands for e-Insurance Account or “Electronic Insurance Account” which will safeguard the insurance policy documents of policyholders in electronic format. This e-Insurance account will facilitate the policyholder by providing access to the insurance portfolio at a click of a button through internet. Each e-Insurance Account will have a unique account number (UAN) and each account holder will be granted a unique Login ID and Password to access the electronic policies online.

eIA stands for e-Insurance Account or “Electronic Insurance Account” which will safeguard the insurance policy documents of policyholders in electronic format. This e-Insurance account will facilitate the policyholder by providing access to the insurance portfolio at a click of a button through internet. Each e-Insurance Account will have a unique e-IA number and Login ID to access the electronic policies online.

NO. e-Insurance account is offered ‘free of cost’ to the applicants.

The following are the broad benefits of holding Insurance Policies in electronic form:
Safety: There is no risk of loss or damage of a policy as is common with paper policies;
Convenience: All insurance policies, be it life, pension, health or general, can be electronically held under a single eInsurance account. This means all details of all policies are available in a single account (place).
Statement of Account: At least once every year, the Insurance repository would send a statement of account to the e– Insurance account holder with the details of the policies of the account holder.
Payment Options: Premium for all the policies can be paid online.
Single Point of Service: Service requests in respect of e-Insurance account or any of the electronic policy can be submitted in the CIRL’s eIA Portal. A single request can sometimes cater to the requirements of several Insurers. As an illustration, a single change of address request made in the eIA Account portal can update the policies issued by multiple Insurers. There would be no need to go to several offices of individual Insurers for service.

NO. As per the IRDA guidelines, an individual cannot open multiple e-Insurance accounts.

An Approved Person is a Point of Sale (PoS) appointed by Insurance Repository and will be working on behalf of Insurance Repository to extend the IR services

Yes, an individual who is not having any insurance policy can open an e-Insurance account from www.cirl.co.in portal by successful completion of KYC. After buying a policy, the policyholder can add the policy in the existing EIA

Customers who choose Online opening of e-Insurance account it will be generated instantly once KYC is successful, in case KYC is unsuccessful customer needs to share the valid KYC document scan copy to CIRL helpdesk email cirlhelpdesk@cirl.co.in requesting for eIA account opening. If the account is opened through Insurance Company while buying the policy, it will be done within 24 to 48 hours from the date of submission of policy proposal with complete details in all respects by the Insurance Company. Once, an account is opened, a welcome email and SMS with the details of how to operate the same would be sent to the applicant/e-Insurance account holder registered email.

Yes, it is possible to convert the existing paper policies into electronic form. A service request may be made to the Insurance Repository or Insurer or the Approved person in this regard.

Once you have opened an e Insurance Account (eIA), while buying any new insurance policy, you need to quote your e-IA number in the proposal form or ask Agent to mention your eIA number in the proposal form.

All Life insurance, Health insurance, General insurance & Annuity policies that are issued by registered insurance companies with IRDA and who have signed up with the CIRL are eligible to be held in the electronic form.

You will receive a mail and SMS on your registered e-mail id and mobile number.

All the Basic services provided by CIRL are absolutely free of cost. There are no hidden charges or annual maintenance fees. Additionally, value-added services may be introduced, which will be chargeable explicitly.

A list of all policies that are credited will be available in the e-Insurance account. For each policy, policy level details like the status, commencement, maturity/expiry, nomination, assignment, endorsement, address, terms and conditions etc., would be available. In addition, the e-Insurance account holder will be able to download a copy of the policy bond.

No, eIA can not be opened on joint names.

All requests in respect of either your e-Insurance account or any of the electronic policies may be made to the Insurance Repository. However, requests in respect of the policies can also be made directly with the Insurer concerned. Upon a request, the Insurance repository would handle all servicing needs that fall within scope of their services directly and would forward the others to the Insurer concerned. An update to the policyholder would be provided by the Insurance Repository on the status of the request in respect of all the requests that it receives.

An Authorized Representative is a person who is appointed by e-Insurance account holder to operate his/her e-Insurance account in case of unfortunate demise or incapability of e-Insurance account holder to operate the account. The Authorized Representative will intimate the Insurance Repository about the demise/incapability of policyholder with valid proof.

Yes. Authorized Representative can be changed by making a request to the Insurance Repository.

Yes both Nominee and Authorized Representative can be the same person.

Yes, the e-Insurance account holder will have an option to shift from one Insurance Repository to the other. All the policy details and transaction history would then be transferred to the new Insurance repository.

Yes, the policyholder shall make a request to his insurer and upon completion of all formalities in respect of the same, the hard copy of the policy document shall be made available.