As many as nine companies have filed in applications for starting insurance business and as per indications the first set of companies to get registered will be cleared by the IRDA by the end of October.

IRDA chairman N Rangachary, who also spoke at the seminar, clarified that all the companies fulfilling the conditions laid down in the Act would be allowed to write insurance business in India. He said that "there is no closing date for filing applications. Companies can take their time and decided when to file in their respective applications for registration."

Mr Patil, while speaking at the seminar, said that in order to improve the insurance services, the government has come up with an "outer limit" within which insurance claims have to be settled. "It has been recommended that the "outer limit" should be three years for life companies," he said adding that the limit would be different for non-life claims depending on the nature of assets.

The minister said that the government is also working towards improving the Insurance Ombudsman Scheme to ensure that there is faster redressal of the consumer grievances.

Referring to the future of General Insurance Company (GIC) and its subsidiaries, Mr Patil said the government would consider all the "pros and cons" before delinking GIC subsidiaries from the parent company to provide them with greater freedom of operation.

The government had appointed a committee headed by National Insurance Company chairman A N Poddar and chiefs of three other arms and GIC to their submit recommendations regarding delinking of the GIC subsidiaries. Mr Patil said the ministry had received the Poddar committee report andwas considering the recommendations.

According to the norms laid down by the IRDA, the subsidiaries would have to register themselves as separate companies while GIC would be made the Indian reinsurer. The norms also stipulates that GIC and its arms would have to comply with the norms as applicable to other private companies including a minimum equity of Rs 100 crore.

IRDA chief Rangachary said in his address that the authority would issue regulations for surveyors and reinsurance of life insurance companies by month end.

He said that the authority has written to the government to amend the Insurance Act to allow the brokers to collect commission on insurance premium. According to section 40 of the present Act only agents are allowed to collect commission.

Mr Rangachary said that the authority has proposed three legislations on insurance, including one for a new Insurance Act. The other two pertain to the institutes of actuaries and surveyors, he said.

Mr Rangachary said the regulator has so far issued 12 technical regulations including on registration of life and non-life insurance and investments of premium amount. "The regulations are not a bit lower or sub-standard than what is being practised elsewhere. We have gone for prudential regulations and would introduce a system of transparent regulations," he said.

So far nine companies - IFFCO-Tokio Marine, Reliance, Dabur-Allstate, HDFC-Standard Life, Max-New York Life, Bajaj Auto, Prudential-ICICI, Kotak Mahindra-Old Mutual and Sundaram-Royal Sun Alliance - have applied to IRDA for registration.