The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made it mandatory for insurers to issue new policies digitally. From April 1, 2024, it is now mandatory for insurance companies to offer only digital policies to comply with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) regulations to protect the interests of policyholders. If you decide to buy insurance after April 1, your insurer will issue the policy only in digital form. This is in line with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India's Protection of Policyholders' Interests regulations that make it mandatory for insurance companies to issue policies in dematerialised form. As per the new rules, the e-insurance accounts opening will now be facilitated by four insurance repositories: the CAMS Repository, Karvy, NSDL Database Management (NDML), and the Central Insurance Repository of India. the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) In a circular dated March 20, 2024, titled "Protection of Policyholders' Interests, Operations, and Allied Matters of Insurers Regulations, 2024" said, "Every insurer shall have in place a Board-approved policy for insurance policies issued in electronic form." The regulator, insurers and other stakeholders say e-insurance will help policyholders and the entire insurance ecosystem. "Irrespective of whether the proposal is received in electronic form or otherwise, every insurer shall issue insurance policies only in the electronic form," IRDAI's final regulations said. What is an e-Insurance: As the name suggests, e-insurance simply means buying insurance policies in a digital format. Electronic insurance policies will be held in a demat account termed an e-Insurance Account, or eIA. One can manage all the insurance policies - life, health, and general - through an e-Insurance Account. Like dematerialised or paperless shares, the e-insurance account framework involves issuing and holding policies in digital form. It belongs to policyholders who can choose to buy and hold other policies in electronic form. However, do note that unlike multiple share demat accounts that one is allowed to maintain, there can be only one e-insurance account per policyholder.