A regulator should not police premium rates: M Ramadoss

M Ramadoss, chairman cum managing director, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, discusses the road ahead for the government owned general insurance companies with Venkatachari Jagannathan.

Chennai: Six months after the administered pricing system in the domestic non life insurance industry was scrapped, free pricing in its true sense is yet to take shape. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has imposed a floor level below which insurers cannot price their products that were earlier under administered pricing mechanism.

Says chairman cum managing director, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, M Ramadoss, "The IRDA''s ceiling has not changed the situation. The unhealthy practices that were prevalent in a tariffed market still continue."

He adds, "No other insurance regulator governs the premium rates. All regulators police the insurer''s solvency margin."

An all India chartered accountancy rank holder Ramadoss, has a strong determination. His father died when he was in school leaving behind his mother and three sisters to sustain themselves with a meagre rental income. Against the suggestion of his close relatives to seek a job after graduation, Ramadoss opted to pursue chartered accountancy.

He cleared his final chartered accountancy exams standing 31st rank in 1975 even before he had completed his articles at the Chennai-based chartered accountancy firm Fraser & Ross.