IRDAI's Insurance Intermediaries (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, notified on July 30 2026 and effective on Gazette publication, rewrites how India's 700+ corporate agents - banks, finance companies and large distributors - remain licensed and who may sell at the branch, with an annual fee of Rs 10,000 plus one-twenty fifth of one per cent (0.04%) of commission, a new pre-recruitment test and practical training for every Authorised Verifier, and mandatory disclosure of the seller's functional identity, mobile and email on the proposal, policy and certificate from January 1 2027, according to the notification text reproduced by TaxGuru under F. No. IRDAI/Reg/8/222/2026. Existing corporate agents with a three-year certificate must reapply in Form A before January 31 2027 (extendable to March 31 2027 with Rs 750 late fee and reasons) or cease to act from April 1, and registration thereafter becomes perpetual subject only to annual fee payment, replacing the old three-year renewal cycle.
Context: Why the SBSR Act Forced a Distribution Rewrite
The stated objective (Regulation 2) is alignment with the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act 2025 and the Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Amendment Rules 2025, which raised FDI to 100%, enabled majority foreign-owned corporate agents and tightened governance. CAalley's IRDAI - 2026 tracker lists this as one of five amendment regulations dated 2026 alongside the TPA Health Services, Registration/Capital Structure, Surveyors and Actuarial-Finance-Investment amendments, showing a batch hygiene exercise. The fee schedule (new Schedule VI) replaces a flat renewal fee with a scale - higher of Rs 10,000 or 0.04% of commission and "other receipts" (branding, marketing, shared services) per audited financials - due before January 31 of the preceding financial year, with 2% surcharge within 30 days and 10% thereafter, suspension from April 1 if unpaid and cancellation after three months. That prices growth into the licence: a bank earning Rs 50 crore commission pays Rs 2 lakh, not Rs 10,000. The parallel requirement that a corporate agent whose insurance revenue exceeds 50% of total revenue maintain professional indemnity cover, and that foreign-majority or Rs 10 crore-plus commission agents disclose commission, related-party transactions and dividends on their website, targets the opacity that fuelled mis-selling complaints and the transitional window closing August 31 2026.
Implication: What Changes at the Branch and on Your Policy Document
For policyholders the visible change is traceability. Regulation 14(vi) as substituted requires every policy solicited after January 1 2027 to record the name and functional identity (based on a Central Government unique ID) of the Specified Person/Point of Sales Person/Designated Person/Authorised Verifier who sold it, plus the branch mobile and email - or, for pure digital sales without a salesperson, the principal officer's contact. Regulation 14(v) adds that no branch may solicit unless it has an exclusive Specified Person assigned and adequate numbers commensurate with volume including group members. Authorised Verifiers - telemarketer employees assigned to a corporate agent - must now pass a nominated examination body test and approved-institution practical training (new Regulation 25(4)), file details with the Authority for a Letter of Enrollment, and need a No Objection Certificate to switch telemarketers (deemed granted after 30 days). Specified Persons similarly need 25 hours retraining every three years and an NOC to move (new clauses x-xii). Combined, this narrows the regulatory arbitrage where aggregator-style tele-calling scaled without qualified sellers and where branch sales were booked without an identifiable advisor.
Action or Watch-Item: What to Check Before Your Next Renewal Through a Bank
If you buy via a bank or finance company, ask for the seller's enrollment number on the proposal form and verify the branch has an exclusive Specified Person - the regulation now requires it, and the branch contact must be printed on the policy from January 1. For existing holders, no immediate paperwork is needed, but watch renewal notices from corporate agents between now and March 2027: laggards who miss the re-registration window cease to act on April 1 2027 and must still service run-off business. For intermediaries, the watch items are the January 31 annual fee deadline, the January 1 tagging go-live, and the new financial reporting deadline: non-pure intermediaries must file a schedule of insurance versus non-insurance receipts with audited accounts before September 30 each year. IRDAI's prior transitional extension to August 31 2026 (TaxGuru) was the bridge - this amendment is the destination.