India’s Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has proposed a Public Insurance Registry (PIR) as part of its consultation paper titled “Recalibrating Economics of Insurance Distribution,” released in August 2026. The consultation period for the PIR ends on September 30, 2026. The PIR aims to serve as a digital public infrastructure to improve policy portability, accelerate claims processing, and increase transparency in the insurance market, according to medianama.com.
The PIR is envisioned as a shared data registry operating through the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB), an autonomous body established in Hyderabad in 2009. IRDAI plans to convert the IIB into a not-for-profit company under its regulatory framework to manage the PIR. The consultation paper outlines over 59 scenarios demonstrating how the PIR could address current challenges, such as enabling an Insurance Risk Score that integrates insurance history, credit data, and other permitted external information on a consent basis.
This initiative follows the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, 2025, and is designed to create an interoperable, business-facing digital infrastructure for insurance. By consolidating data, the PIR could streamline underwriting, claims, and policy management, aligning with broader efforts to digitize and regulate the insurance sector. The registry’s potential to unify risk assessment tools and improve data sharing marks a significant step in India’s insurance policy framework.
The consultation period for the PIR closes on September 30, 2026, after which IRDAI will review feedback to finalize the framework. The Insurance Information Bureau, currently an autonomous entity, is set to be restructured as a not-for-profit company under IRDAI’s oversight to operate the registry, as detailed in the consultation paper on medianama.com.