Chennai, March 16 (IANS): With the broad-basing of the Life Insurance Council and the General Insurance Council with members drawn from other segments of the insurance industry, will they still represent the interests of insurers is the question now, say industry officials.

Whether the life and non-life insurers should have their own association to represent their interests is another question that is also being asked.

As per the recently amended insurance laws, the membership of both councils have been broad-based by including representatives of agents, consumers, surveyors and others while restricting the membership of insurers to four in the executive committee.

Till now both the councils with life and non-life insurers as their only members acted like trade bodies representing their interests.

"We will be discussing the new bye-laws for the council at a meeting. The question whether the council could also represent the interests of life insurers would also be discussed at the meeting," Life Insurance Council secretary general V.Manickam told IANS.

However insurance industry experts are of the view the two councils cannot be a trade body with members drawn from different fields.

"Hitherto life and general insurers were essentially trade bodies of insurers alone (apart from two officers of sector regulator IRDA). The councils will no longer be trade bodies of insurers. There will be only four representatives of insurers in the respective councils.

"The balance (more than 50 percent) will comprise agents, intermediaries, SHGs, co-operatives and independent external experts," K.K.Srinivasan, former member (non-life), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) told IANS.

Thus the insurers may need to create a new trade body for themselves in the near future to further their interests.

It is interesting to note that in general insurance, the PSU insurers already have trade body, namely, the General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association (GIPSA) whereas the private sector insurers have none, Srinivasan said.

Though health insurance is now being recognised as separate vertical, V.Jagannathan, chairman and managing director, Star Health and Allied Insurance told IANS the standalone health insurers need not have a separate trade body.

"The only difference between general insurers and standalone health insurers is that they do all kinds of non-life insurance business whereas we do only health and personal accident insurance. Otherwise the interests of both the players are the same," he said.