Mint Explainer: Why the insurance bill 2025 marks the industry's biggest reform in decades
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 December, represents the most significant reform of India’s insurance sector in decades. The bill seeks to amends three core laws—the Insurance Act, 1938; the LIC Act, 1956; and the IRDAI Act, 1999—to liberalise foreign investment, strengthen regulation, introduce new intermediaries, and accelerate insurance penetration in line with the government’s goal of ‘insurance for all by 2047’.
It also aims to enhance protection for policyholders, which should boost consumer confidence and help build a more resilient insurance ecosystem. At a high level, the legislation represents a decisive shift towards a liberalised, globally aligned and regulator-driven insurance market. Mint takes a closer look at the reasons for the overhaul, the specific changes it will bring, and which issues will remain unresolved.
The government chose a single, consolidated amendment to ensure regulatory consistency across India’s fragmented insurance framework. The three laws govern private insurers, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the regulator Irdai, and piecemeal changes could have created regulatory gaps. The approach reflects the government’s goal of modernising the entire insurance ecosystem at once, rather than reforming individual institutions separately.
Read on livemint.com