The Insurance Company Does not Follow the Instructions of the Insurance Authority

Kathmandu. As the insurance companies are more focused on cities and markets, the provincial offices of insurance companies have not yet reached Karnali Province. Although the government has instructed the insurance companies to expand their services according to the federal structure, the presence in the rural areas is seen to be weak. According to the Karnali State Office of the Insurance Authority, the insurance companies in Karnali are mostly concentrated in Surkhet, the state capital.

As it is necessary to organize the work of establishing branch offices of insurers licensed by the authority, according to the Insurance Act, 2079, the insurance companies were instructed to operate provincial offices by issuing guidelines.

According to the guidelines, every insurance company had to give preference to places that are not covered by insurance when opening a branch office

When opening a branch office, companies should prioritize opening a branch or sub-branch office in rural areas or municipalities where there is no scope of insurance, where the presence of insurance companies is low, and there is no insurance business unit.

According to the authority, in cases where the authority has decided to open an office on a district-wise basis to provide agriculture, crop, livestock and herb insurance coverage, they should give priority to opening an office in that district.Companies will have to open provincial offices in each province to coordinate insurance business and service delivery through branches and sub-branch offices.

In violation of the rules of the Insurance Authority, 13 insurance companies have not yet brought their branch offices into operation in Karnali province.

Seven insurance companies from life insurance and six from non-life insurance companies have not yet expanded their branch offices in Karnali province.

Regarding life insurance, National Insurance Institute, National Life, LIC Nepal, IME Life, Sanima Reliance Life, Prabhu Mahalakshmi Life do not have provincial office in Karnali Province.

Regarding non-life insurance, National Insurance Company, NLG, Himalayan Everest, IGI Prudential, Sanima GIC and Prabhu Insurance have not come into operation in the state office in Karnali state.

Before opening a provincial office or a branch office or a sub-branch office, the company has to study the feasibility of the location.

In the report of the feasibility study, the proposed location for the opening of the office by the companies is not financially feasible, the condition of access to insurance services is objective or not, the status of the economic and financial activities taking place in the proposed location, the condition of the insurer and the reasonable basis that the proposed office can be operated profitably from insurance business within 3 years, etc. The subject should be covered.