Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA):

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was established in 1999 to analyse and develop the insurance industry in India.
• In India, IRDA is a supreme, autonomous and legal institution which looks after the regulatory and development activities in the field of insurance.
• The IRDA under IRDA Act, 1999 opened up the insurance market and invited Indian as well as foreign companies to set-up insurance business in India.
• Thus the IRDA again took insurance from nationalization to privatization. Initially the foreign companies were allowed to undergo joint venture with Indian companies and hold upto 26% ownership in the joint venture. This was then raised upto 49% ownership by the year 2015.

Main objectives of IRDA:

• To give more choices to policy buyers and holders while selecting an insurance company.
• To promote healthy competition among insurance companies so that customers can get better services at lower premium.
• Accelerate the growth of economy by expanding insurance industry.
• To bring self-discipline among the insurance companies.
• To establish mechanism for complaint redressel, etc.