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IRDAI levied a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on SBI Life and issued advisory against the life insurer for violating regulations like outsourcing pre-sales activities to web aggregators and selling insurance after its withdrawal among other things.
The insurance regulator found that SBI Life has incentivized its web aggregators for carrying out telemarketing and pre-sales activities to sell insurance policies. Such a payment was made to Policybazaar, MIC, Compare Policy, Easypolicy and Wishfin.
IRDAI norms allow insurers to have tie up with web aggregators to sell policies and offer post sales services. As web aggregators can work with multiple insurers, such an incentivization can potentially lead to conflict of interests, feels the regulator.
IRDAI has also found that the company did not report payment of close to Rs.2 crore for outsourcing activities.
The regulator has issued advisory for violation of other norms like selling insurance after its withdrawal and rejecting claims without furnishing evidence.
The regulator asked SBI Life to pay the penalty of Rs. 1 crore within the next 45 days.
