{
  "id": 10510389,
  "title": "IRDAI pushes LIC, SBI Life to seek cost efficiency",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/irdai-pushes-lic-sbi-life-to-seek-cost-efficiency",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-28T18:24:32.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times",
    "slug": "the-economic-times",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/insure/irdai-pushes-lic-sbi-life-to-seek-further-cost-efficiency/articleshow/134548886.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "India's insurance regulator, IRDAI, has urged Life Insurance Corp (LIC) and SBI Life to seek additional cost efficiencies, despite already operating below proposed expense of management (EOM) limits. Both insurers currently fall within the regulator's proposed thresholds. IRDAI Chairman Ajay Seth suggested there is room for further improvement to reduce EOM below 10%, aiming for smaller insurers to catch up with larger, established players. The regulator is targeting a company-level EOM limit of 12.5% of gross direct premium income over five years, with the goal of moving towards greater efficiency and improved value for policyholders. LIC's EOM stands at around 12%, while SBI Life's is around 11%. Both insurers would need to bring their EOM closer to 10% within five years. Smaller insurers with higher EOM percentages, such as those at 20%, 22%, or 25%, need to reduce their costs to achieve a more reasonable level. The proposed framework could significantly reduce payouts on products sold through lenders, potentially capping commission on credit-life insurance at 2% compared to the current 28%, and in some cases up to 45%.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}