Home » Finance » IRDAI Public Insurance Registry (PIR) What Is IRDAI's Public Insurance Registry? How PIR Could Change Insurance in India India’s insurers had ₹8,973.89 crore in unclaimed insurance amounts as of 28 February 2026, underscoring the difficulty of reconnecting rightful policyholders, nominees and legal heirs with unpaid insurance proceeds. Across the country, policyholders navigate isolated digital silos when trying to manage health, life, and motor coverage across different providers. Overview of the proposed IRDAI Public Insurance Registry (PIR) framework designed to build unified digital public infrastructure for Indian insurance. To address information fragmentation and structural friction in the sector, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) released a consultation...
What Is IRDAI's Public Insurance Registry? How PIR Could Change Insurance in India
India’s insurers had ₹8,973.89 crore in unclaimed insurance amounts as of 28 February 2026, underscoring the difficulty of reconnecting rightful policyholders, nominees and legal heirs with unpaid insurance proceeds. Across the country, policyholders navigate isolated digital silos when trying to manage health, life, and motor coverage across different providers.
Overview of the proposed IRDAI Public Insurance Registry (PIR) framework designed to build unified digital public infrastructure for Indian insurance.
To address information fragmentation and structural friction in the sector, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) released a consultation paper on 1 September 2026 proposing the creation of a Public Insurance Registry (PIR) as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
Key Timeline: Stakeholders and the public have been invited to submit feedback and comments on the proposed PIR design by 30 September 2026.
What Is IRDAI's Public Insurance Registry (PIR)?
At its core, what is PIR in insurance India? Rather than creating a single, massive centralized database that stores all personal files in one spot, IRDAI has proposed an interoperable digital information layer.
The registry is envisioned to support a consistent and authoritative view of relevant insurance information while source records remain with appropriate institutions (such as insurers and repositories). It aims to provide standardisation, verifiable identity linkages, and secure interoperability.
Why Is IRDAI Proposing PIR Now?
India’s fragmented insurance data landscape creates information and interoperability gaps. Different insurers operate on proprietary legacy systems, making cross-institutional data verification slow and cumbersome.
According to industry analysis, this data fragmentation can contribute to friction in verification and claims processing.
Infographic: Proposed interoperable data architecture connecting insurers, policyholders, and public registries.
How Could the Public Insurance Registry Work?
The operational details of how will public insurance registry work are currently subject to the consultation paper's feedback, but the core technical principles focus on:
- Unified Digital Public Infrastructure: Potentially establishing standardised APIs and common data standards so that disparate insurer platforms can communicate.
- Authorized Verification: Providing secure data-access protocols where customer data exchange could operate through authorised access and appropriate consent and privacy safeguards.
- Decentralized Record Keeping: Enabling source verification while respecting commercial boundaries and institutional governance.
How Could PIR Help Policyholders?
1. Locating Unclaimed or Forgotten Policies
A standardized registry could make it easier to identify relevant policies and unpaid insurance proceeds, subject to the final access and claims framework.
2. Potentially Smoother Policy Servicing and Portability
Policyholders interacting with different providers could benefit from standardized records, which could reduce repetitive information and documentation requirements in some processes.
3. Faster Claims Verification
Digital verification of coverage status could reduce friction between hospitals, third-party administrators (TPAs), and insurers.
Could PIR Help Reduce Mis-Selling and Fraud?
Separately, IRDAI leadership has discussed greater traceability of insurance sales to individual distributors. PIR could potentially strengthen such accountability if the relevant data and architecture are incorporated. Furthermore, structured verification could assist in identifying suspicious patterns across insurers without compromising legitimate customer claims.
Could PIR Affect Insurance Premiums?
From an economic standpoint, better data infrastructure reduces information gaps. However, policyholders should understand that PIR would not, by itself, guarantee lower premiums.
Insurance pricing is governed by numerous actuarial factors, including:
- Medical inflation and healthcare costs
- Claims frequency and loss ratios
- Reinsurance pricing and capital adequacy requirements
- Distribution and customer acquisition costs
Is IRDAI Creating a "CIBIL-Like" Insurance Score?
Reports earlier in 2026 discussed the conceptual possibility of an industry-wide insurance underwriting score. However, this should not be conflated with the September 1 consultation paper. The current consultation focuses on foundational digital architecture and data interoperability.
PIR vs Insurance Repositories vs Bima Sugam
| Platform | Primary Function | Regulatory Context |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance Repositories (eIA) | Store electronic policy documents in digital format for policyholders. | Operationalized entity for dematerialized policy holding. |
| Bima Sugam | Electronic marketplace intended to facilitate buying, servicing and related insurance transactions. | Regulated under IRDAI (Bima Sugam—Insurance Electronic Marketplace) Regulations, 2024. |
| Public Insurance Registry (PIR) | Underlying Digital Public Infrastructure for data interoperability & information exchange. | Proposed Consultation Paper (September 2026). |
Privacy and Data-Protection Safeguards
Because PIR will handle critical insurance records, the consultation paper explicitly invites inputs on data privacy frameworks, identity verification protocols, commercial confidentiality, and governance structures. The eventual framework will also need to account for applicable requirements under India’s digital personal-data protection regime.
The Road Ahead for IRDAI's Insurance Registry
The Public Insurance Registry represents a significant step toward making India's insurance sector more interoperable and transparent. While the final shape of the platform will depend on the feedback received by 30 September 2026, PIR could establish the foundation needed to resolve data silos and make insurance administration vastly more efficient for policyholders nationwide.
Watch: Industry Insights on Insurance Reforms and Digital Infrastructure
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the Public Insurance Registry (PIR)?
The Public Insurance Registry (PIR) is a proposed Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative by IRDAI aimed at improving data standardisation, interoperability, and transparent information flow across India's insurance ecosystem.
How will the Public Insurance Registry work?
It is proposed as an interoperable digital layer that could connect relevant insurance records and participants through common technical standards, subject to the final consent, privacy and governance framework.
What is the deadline for feedback on the IRDAI PIR consultation paper?
IRDAI issued the consultation paper on 1 September 2026, and stakeholders, industry participants, and the general public can submit their feedback until 30 September 2026.
Will PIR automatically reduce insurance premiums?
Not automatically. While PIR may reduce operational friction and administrative gaps, insurance pricing continues to depend on broader factors such as claims experience, healthcare inflation, reinsurance rates, and insurer underwriting strategies.
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