Mint Explainer: Why the insurance bill 2025 marks the industry’s biggest reform in decades

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. According to Sidharrth Shankar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, the bill “delegates Irdai with extensive powers to form regulations for policyholder protection”, including on commissions, amalgamations and penalties. Shankar said the sector was now “fully liberalised for insurance companies”, with conditions around foreign investment proposed to be simplified and eased. Shivangi Sharma Talwar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said while the bill permits mergers of insurance and non-insurance businesses, ending a decade-long debate, it lacks clarity on “the business to be transferred” since insurers are otherwise restricted from undertaking non-insurance activities. Read more