The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has extended the deadline for comments on its proposed Public Insurance Registry (PIR) to Saturday, 17 October 2026. The original last date was 30 September 2026. IRDAI announced the extension in a press release dated 30 September, saying it wanted to allow wider participation and more industry discussion. All other terms of the consultation stay the same.
What the registry is meant to do
IRDAI released the consultation paper on 1 September 2026 and describes the PIR as digital public infrastructure for insurance. According to Business Standard's reading of the paper, the idea is a common layer through which authorised participants can find, verify and exchange insurance information. It is not meant to be one central database: insurers and other source institutions would keep their own records, and the registry would mostly hold pointers to them.
Information that could be linked through the registry includes product details, policy and claim records, premiums, benefits, complaints, details of insurers and intermediaries, and unclaimed amounts. The paper also mentions links to outside systems such as the Central KYC Registry, Aadhaar authentication, vehicle registration, health and mortality registries, and weather and disaster databases. Identity would be matched using Aadhaar, PAN or CKYC where available.
Who could see the data
The paper ties access to the purpose for which data is needed:
- Policyholders could see their own information.
- Insurers could see relevant customer data, including history with another insurer, only with the customer's consent.
- IRDAI and other authorised bodies could access data for regulatory or investigative work.
- Researchers and the industry could use only anonymised, aggregated data.
IRDAI's paper says consent should be specific, informed, revocable and auditable. It lists safeguards such as role-based access, data masking and audit trails, and says the system would follow the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the IT Act, 2000. The paper also proposes turning the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) into a not-for-profit company wholly owned by IRDAI to set up the registry. This is a proposal, not a decision.
How to send comments
Comments must be filled in IRDAI's prescribed Excel template and can be submitted through the portal at iib.gov.in/pir or by email, as set out in the consultation notice. IRDAI has asked for feedback especially on the user stories in Section 8 and the consultation questions in Section 15 of the paper. Anyone can respond, including policyholders, insurers and intermediaries.
What happens next
The proposal is at the consultation stage only. After reviewing comments, IRDAI will decide the final design. The paper suggests a phased rollout, with new policies following registry standards from an agreed date and older records brought in gradually, for example at renewal. No date for this has been announced.