Public Insurance Registry India 2026: What IRDAI Proposes

Quick answer: The Public Insurance Registry (PIR) is a proposal from IRDAI, the insurance regulator, to build shared digital infrastructure so that insurers, regulators and policyholders can look up and exchange insurance information with consent. It is still a consultation paper, not a rule. Nothing changes for your policy today, but if it goes ahead it could make it easier to see every policy you hold in one place, and it raises real questions about how your data is used.

What is the Public Insurance Registry?

IRDAI floated the idea in a consultation paper in late summer 2026. Reports differ slightly on the release date (Business Standard dates the proposal to 2 September 2026, while Medianama places the paper in August), but both say comments closed on 30 September 2026. The proposal sits under the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent on 20 December 2025 and comes into force only on a date the Central Government notifies.

IRDAI describes the PIR as digital public infrastructure for insurance: a common layer through which authorised participants can discover, verify and exchange information. The proposed participants include insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, policyholders, regulators, financial institutions, government departments and research institutions.

It is not meant to be one giant database. The paper follows a "source-system primacy" approach, which means the insurer or other source keeps the original record. The PIR would hold a reference to it, a governed central copy only where a genuine cross-insurer purpose exists, or anonymised aggregates for analysis.

What information could it link?

According to the reporting, the registry could cover product details, policy and claim records, intermediary details, grievances, unclaimed amounts and policyholder identity. The paper also contemplates links to outside systems such as KYC records, Aadhaar authentication, vehicle registration, health and mortality registries, weather and disaster data, and court case-management systems. Those external systems would be connected rather than copied.

To tie records to the right person, the proposal combines strong anchors (Aadhaar, PAN, CKYC) with a probabilistic demographic match where no anchor exists. The paper accepts that some matches would carry lower confidence and might need manual review.

Who could see your data?

Access is proposed to depend on purpose. As described in the coverage:

• You: customers can access their own information.
• Insurers: relevant customer data, with your consent.
• IRDAI and authorised bodies: for regulatory or investigative purposes.
• Researchers and policy bodies: anonymised, aggregated data only.

The paper says consent should be "specific, informed, revocable and auditable", and lists safeguards such as role-based access, purpose limitation, data masking and audit trails. It cites the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the IT Act, 2000 as the legal backdrop.

How it could help ordinary policyholders

These are possible benefits based on what the paper describes, not promises. Treat them as the best case.

• One view of your cover. Many families lose track of older policies, especially after a job change or a death in the family. Our guide to checking and claiming unclaimed insurance money shows how fragmented that search is today.
• Faster verification. Shared definitions for terms like claim, grievance, lapse and surrender, plus verified identity, could cut the back-and-forth on documents at claim time.
• Better grievance tracking. Analysis of the proposal says the registry could serve as a common back end for Bima Bharosa and CPGRAMS, so complaints are logged in a standard way. For the current route, see our explainer on how to file an insurance complaint.
• Gradual onboarding. New policies would follow PIR standards from an agreed date, and existing records could be brought in gradually, for example at renewal.

The concerns worth taking seriously

Medianama's analysis flags several open questions, and they are fair ones for any reader to weigh.

• The risk score. The paper reportedly describes a consent-based "Insurance Risk Score" built from insurance history and credit data. Critics ask who would calculate and audit it, whether people could challenge it, and whether lenders, employers or landlords might eventually gain access. The paper's actual answers are not clear from the coverage, so this is a point to watch in the final framework.
• Consent in practice. It is not clear whether consent would be mandatory for getting insurance, or whether someone who refuses would have an alternative route.
• Scope creep. Linking many databases and sharing anomaly signals with law-enforcement bodies raises the stakes if something is misused.
• Governance. The paper proposes converting the Insurance Information Bureau into a not-for-profit company wholly owned by IRDAI to run the registry.

What you should do now

Nothing needs to change today. A few habits are useful whatever happens to the proposal:

• Keep a simple list of every policy you and your family hold, with insurer, policy number, nominee and renewal date. The health insurance hub has the basics, and the glossary explains terms such as lapse and portability.
• Keep your contact details and nominee current with each insurer, since a registry would only be as good as the records feeding it.
• Be cautious with anyone claiming to "register" you on an official insurance database. IRDAI separately warned this month that igmsirdai.online is not an official grievance site, and told people not to share personal, financial, KYC or OTP details there. Use the official Bima Bharosa portal instead.
• When consent requests eventually arrive, read what you are agreeing to, who will see it and how to withdraw it.

What happens next

The paper asks for views on data architecture, identity, standards, privacy, governance and implementation. After the consultation closed on 30 September 2026, IRDAI would need to review the comments and, presumably, issue a framework. The reporting we found gives no firm dates for the IIB conversion or for rollout, and use cases would be phased in according to data availability, legal requirements, privacy safeguards and technology readiness. We will update this page when IRDAI publishes something firmer. See our trust and editorial pages for how we handle updates.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Public Insurance Registry already live?

No. It is a consultation proposal. The enabling Act also needs to be brought into force by Government notification.

Will it store all my policy documents in one place?

According to the reporting, no. Source institutions are meant to stay the record-keepers, with the registry mostly pointing to records, though a governed central copy is allowed for genuine cross-insurer needs.

Can insurers see my data without asking me?

The paper proposes that insurers access relevant customer data with consent, described as specific, informed, revocable and auditable. Regulators could access data for regulatory or investigative purposes.

Will it affect my premium?

The coverage does not say it would directly change premiums. The risk-score idea is what worries critics, because insurance and credit history could in principle influence pricing. That is speculation until the final design is published.

Where can I check for lost or forgotten policies today?

Start with your email and bank statements for premium debits, ask your insurers and any past employers, and follow the steps in our unclaimed insurance money guide.

Where do I file a complaint right now?

Write to the insurer's grievance officer first, then use IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal, and the Insurance Ombudsman if unresolved.

Sources: Business Standard's report on the PIR proposal (September 2026); Medianama's analysis of the PIR consultation paper (September 2026); KPMG India's First Notes on the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act (January 2026); Bimabazaar's IRDAI regulatory update for October 2026, which reports IRDAI's fake-website warning. We worked from press coverage of the paper, so please check IRDAI's website (irdai.gov.in) for the original text. This article is educational and is not legal or financial advice.