What Use-and-File Means for New Products

For most of its regulatory history, IRDAI required insurance companies to seek prior approval before launching any new product or making changes to existing ones. This approval-first model ensured regulatory oversight but also slowed product innovation significantly. The shift to a "use-and-file" framework marks a fundamental change in how insurance products reach the market in India — and it has implications for every insurance buyer.

What Is Use-and-File?

Under the use-and-file (UaF) framework, insurers are permitted to launch specified products immediately — without waiting for IRDAI''s prior approval — provided those products comply with pre-defined product guidelines. The insurer must file the product details with IRDAI within a short window after launch (typically 30 days). IRDAI reviews the filing post-launch and can require modifications or withdrawal if the product does not meet regulatory standards.

Which Products Fall Under Use-and-File?

IRDAI has progressively expanded the scope of UaF. Categories eligible for use-and-file include:

• Most standard health insurance products and top-up plans.
• Term life insurance plans (excluding complex riders with novel features).
• Motor insurance products, personal accident, and travel insurance.
• Group insurance schemes for employers and affinity groups.

Products involving novel structures, guaranteed returns, or complex riders may still require prior approval under "file-and-use" or explicit prior approval tracks.

What It Means for Product Innovation

Use-and-file has meaningfully accelerated product launches. Insurers can respond to market needs — a new disease, a new demographic risk, a new distribution partnership — without a multi-month regulatory queue. The result is more diverse product offerings reaching buyers faster. Niche products, such as plans specifically for gig workers, cyber insurance, or extended hospital cash plans, have become more common under this framework.

Policyholder Protections Under UaF

The faster launch track does not mean products are unregulated. Insurers launching under UaF must:

• Ensure the product complies with all applicable IRDAI master circulars and product regulations at the time of launch.
• File the complete product documentation with IRDAI and be prepared to modify or withdraw if IRDAI directs.
• Maintain standard policyholder protections: free-look period, standard exclusion wording, grievance redressal mechanism.

If a product is subsequently found non-compliant and withdrawn, policies already sold by policyholders remain valid — IRDAI does not allow retrospective cancellation of issued policies.

What Buyers Should Do Differently

The broader product market means comparison is more important than ever. With dozens of products potentially launching in a given year, the features, exclusions, and premiums of superficially similar plans can vary widely. Buyers should focus on:

• Reading exclusions carefully — UaF products are compliant but not identical.
• Checking the sum insured adequacy, co-payment clauses, and network hospital coverage for health products.
• Verifying that the insurer has a track record of honouring claims, regardless of how new the specific product variant is.

Conclusion

Use-and-file is a pro-innovation, pro-consumer regulatory shift that has made the Indian insurance market more dynamic. It gives buyers more options, which is a good thing — but only if buyers are equipped to evaluate those options intelligently. At TruePolicy, comparing the latest products across insurers is exactly what the platform is built for — speak with an advisor who follows the market closely to find the right fit for your current life stage.