15,167 crore policies lie unclaimed: Irdai

New Delhi, July 29: As much as ` 15,167 crore amount of policyholders is lying unclaimed with 23 life insurers, according to Irdai data.

Insurance regulator Irdai has already asked insurers to take steps to identify the policyholders or beneficiaries and disburse the claims.

Board level committee for policyholder protection of every insurer is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the timely payout of the all dues to policyholders. It also oversees the steps taken by the insurers to reduce unclaimed amounts as part of the standard procedures on customer service.

Out of the unclaimed amount of ` 15,166.47 crore, as on March 31, 2018, LIC is sitting on ` 10,509 crore, while the 22 private sector insurers account for the remaining ` 4,657.45 crore.

Among the private insurers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has ` 807.4 crore of unclaimed insurance claims followed Reliance Nippon Life Insurance (` 696.12 crore), SBI Life Insurance (` 678.59 crore) and HDFC Standard Life (` 659.3cr).

The Irdai had asked the life insurance companies to provide a search facility on their website to enable policyholders or beneficiaries or dependents to find out whether any unclaimed amounts due to them are lying with these companies.

Policyholders/ beneficiaries are required to enter their details in a window provided on the website of the insurer to find out the unclaimed amount.