IRDAI's portability promise is simple in the brochure: apply at least 45 days before renewal, let the new insurer pull your history via the Insurance Information Bureau, and carry forward the waiting periods you have served, the no-claim bonus, the sum insured continuity and the 60-month moratorium so a claim cannot ordinarily be contested for non-disclosure except on proven fraud. LiveMint's August 2 investigation of how that promise works in practice identified the trap that turns a right into a risk: a ported policy that is issued but not as a ported policy in substance, with fresh conditions that were never in the old cover, and a certificate that omits the continuity benefits you carried forward. That gap is where the request for a second look succeeds.
How IIB Routing Is Supposed to Work - and Where It Gaps
Until 2022 portability depended on insurers exchanging information among themselves, which produced incomplete data, delays and complaints, which is why IRDAI mandated routing through the Insurance Information Bureau. Under the current process, the new insurer obtains policy details from the existing insurer via the IIB, which serves as the common repository for underwriting and claims data and, if information is missing, obtains it from the existing insurer within prescribed timelines, as IIB chief business officer Dr. Mukund Kulkarni described. If the request is accepted with continuity benefits, those benefits - waiting periods served, no-claim bonus, sum insured continuity, moratorium - must be explicitly mentioned in the policy certificate. The LiveMint reporting, citing insurance consultants Akshay Bansal and Softcon Capital's Mayank Gosar, documented insurer-specific portability norms that introduce mandatory deductibles in the case of HDFC Ergo and mandatory step-ups in low sum-insured policies and caps on high sum-insured policies at Tata AIG, alongside lower distributor incentives for ported business. The consultants' point is not that these safeguards are illegitimate; it is that they are price and retention tools that offset the risk the insurer assumes by waiving waiting periods, and the buyer who ports for a cheaper premium without reading the new schedule can end up paying that offset as a surprise deductible or a lower effective sum insured on the very renewal where they expected continuity to be free.
Why the Moratorium Line Is the Most Important Line on the Certificate
Continuity carries a hierarchy, and the moratorium is its most valuable element. After 60 months of continuous cover, including across insurers via portability, a claim or policy cannot ordinarily be contested for non-disclosure except on proven fraud - a stronger shield than a waiting period credit, because a waiting period is a delay and a moratorium is a shield. That is why the certificate line matters more than the brochure. Any absence of insurance history in the certificate is a red flag, as Kulkarni and Deepti Bhaskaran's editorial guidance both note, and as multiple claim-consultant cases handled during 2026 confirm: customers rarely examine the certificate to verify whether portability benefits were actually carried forward, and the omission is discovered only at claim stage. The possibility of portability transactions occurring outside the IIB-mandated platform cannot be entirely ruled out in the absence of a dedicated reporting mechanism to IRDAI, the reporting notes, which is the strongest reason to verify IIB routing with both insurers rather than assuming it. Added sum insured opted for at port stage is also a distinct trap: continuity applies only to the sum insured carried forward from the base policy; any additional sum insured elected at port carries fresh waiting periods.
The Ten-Minute Verification Before You Sign a Port
Do not port because the brochure is cheaper; port because the verified certificate after the IIB pull is. Apply 45-60 days before renewal, insist on a written disclosure that the proposal is a portability proposal, and demand the draft certificate before payment with four lines confirmed in writing: waiting-period credits in months remaining, no-claim bonus continuity and its rupee impact on renewal, sum insured continuity including whether it is capped or stepped up, and the moratorium clock in months to 60. Ask the new insurer to confirm the filing is via IIB and to show the existing insurer's confirmation; if either side cannot, treat it as the gap the reporting flagged. Preserve every record from the old insurer - the last three renewals, the last certificate, claim settlement letters and any no-claim bonus letter - because the IIB pull is not a substitute for your own file. If the certificate arrives with a new mandatory deductible, a cap on high sum insured, or a step-up in low sum insured that was not disclosed during solicitation, do not pay and do not let the old policy lapse; the deductible is precisely the safeguard the new insurer added to offset waived waiting periods, and you are entitled to decide whether that trade fits your risk before you are bound to it. The principle Deepti Bhaskaran's reporting closes with is the right one: if you verify every detail before signing a cheque, verify it before signing a port.
Method and sources: LiveMint Aug 2, 2026 investigation by Aprajita Sharma into portability as a trap for policyholders (IIB routing, Kulkarni explanation, examples of HDFC Ergo mandatory deductible and Tata AIG caps/step-ups, Bansal and Gosar analysis, moratorium 60 months guidance); IRDAI Policyholder Portal portability guidance and IIB portability process note; LegalClarity May 20, 2026 summary of portability rights including 45-day window and 48-month PED cap context; CADIALOGUE Aug 3, 2026 note on portability errors and waiting-period interaction; zospital Aug 19, 2026 claims-and-portability explainer. Readers should obtain the draft certificate from the proposed new insurer and reconcile it with the last certificate from the existing insurer before paying.