Irdai digs into life insurers' costs beyond commissions

IRDAI has asked life insurers to separately disclose operating expenses net of commissions as a percentage of premium, a metric it had not previously tracked independently of the overall Expenses of Management limit. The move comes ahead of a proposed distribution reforms discussion paper expected by end of July, and follows the RBI June 2026 Financial Stability Report observation that private life insurers nearly doubled their commission expense ratio to 9.1 percent in 2025-26 from 4.5 percent in 2021-22. IRDAI now believes that merely rationalising commissions may not materially reduce policy costs unless operating expenses are also scrutinised.