The Bima Gram application programming interface rolled out by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as a tool to enhance insurance penetration in rural markets has successfully completed the pilot testing phase.
Five insurers – two life and two general as well as a health insurer – as a part of the pilot project, integrated, tested and verified the functionality of the API. Full industry integration is expected to be completed soon, the Insurance Awareness Committee (IAC-Life) said on Wednesday.
The Committee, under the Life Insurance Council, said the digital initiative designed to streamline and authenticate insurance coverage data in rural India is set to change the face of insurance penetration in the hinterland.
Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Department of Posts, represented by the Centre of Excellence in Postal Technology, and the Insurance Information Bureau of India, Bima Gram comprises a database and API. It ensures insurance policies from rural areas can be digitally validated and accurately mapped with their respective gram panchayats. Besides reducing manual documentation, it enhances accuracy, speed and efficiency of rural business reporting.
Beyond helping insurers evaluate their rural penetration efforts, the API will enable the companies build comprehensive baseline datasets for future policy planning and resource allocation, IAC-Life said in a release. The tool to accurately map insurance coverage in rural areas will assist the insurers in complying with the rural and social (RuSo) mandates prescribed by IRDAI.
Published – November 19, 2025 08:43 pm IST
