Bima-ASBA
IRDAI lets insurers offer UPI facility to block premium via one-time mandates
This story was originally published at 21:02 IST on 18 February 2025
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MUMBAI – The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India Tuesday allowed life and health insurance companies to offer customers a facility to block premium amounts through a Unified Payments Interface one-time mandate. Insurers are expected to begin offering this facility, called 'Bima Applications Supported by Blocked Amount'--or Bima-ASBA--by Mar. 1 starting with individual policyholders.
The free-of-cost facility will allow customers to block funds in their bank accounts for insurance premium payments to ensure availability of funds when making said payments. The funds will be deducted from a customer's account only after the insurance policy is issued. The insurance regulator said that the option to sign up for the facility will be up to customers and insurance companies cannot reject any proposal because a customer has not opted for the facility.
The one-time mandate will be valid for a maximum of 14 days or till the date of the insurer's decision, whichever is earlier, after which the amount would be unblocked, an IRDAI circular said.
"In case the prospect intends to cancel the proposal form submitted, before the underwriting decision of the insurer, the prospect shall make the request through the various modes provided for this purpose by the insurer. Insurer shall accept the request and release the blocked amount within one day from the day of request," the circular added. If a prospective user submits more than one proposal, each form would be enabled to have the one-time mandate feature, the regulator said, among other directions. End
Reported by Cassandra Carvalho
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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