IRDAI has asked general and health insurers to offer standard travel insurance policy with uniform features and benefits.
“Though, there are a number of travel insurance products available in India, the penetration of travel insurance is yet to take off. Further, each product has unique features and the insuring public may find it difficult to choose an appropriate product. In order to deepen the penetration of travel insurance, which shall provide safety net to every individual who is undertaking travel, it is considered essential to have a standard travel product. This standard product shall have common benefits and policy wordings across the industry,” said IRDAI.
IRDAI has allowed insurers to launch five variants of domestic travel and four variants of overseas travel.
Domestic travel variants
- Travel by any mode of public transport (within city)
- Travel by any mode of public transport (outside city)
- Train journey
- Air-travel
- Domestic tours involving road, water, train and air travel
Overseas travel variants
- Long-term trip (students)
- Short-term trip (tours/leisure) (covers travel through road, water, train and air)
- Multi-trip during policy period (business)
- Coverage only for travel (onward & return)
Here are some key features of the standard travel policy:
- Insurers can offer both – benefit based policies and indemnity. Also, insurers can offer these policies to individuals, family and group
- The policy provides coverage only during the period of journey under domestic insurance. Both stay and travel are covered under overseas travel insurance
- There will be no restrictions on age of entry. However, the proposer shall be minimum 18 years of age
- There will be no instalment premium. Premium has to be paid in advance (except in case of multi-year student’s policy)
- The nomenclature of the product shall be Standard Travel Insurance Policy, succeeded by name of insurance company, (Standard travel insurance policy, ). No other name is allowed in any of the documents
The standard travel insurance policy will be available from April 1, 2021.