Insurance sector regulator Irda has slapped a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on general insurer ICICI Lombard for violating various norms.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has asked ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co to pay the fine within 15 days of the order issued today. "...as directed under the respective charges, the penalty of Rs 50 lakh shall be remitted to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order," it said in its order.

The insurer has been penalised for showing wrong entry, breaching lower limit of government securities, showing different documents for same policy, violating file and use guidelines and norms for reimbursement of infrastructure cost."The investment pattern as on February 13, 2009 shows that the government securities and other guaranteed securities including central government securities are at 28.87 per cent instead of minimum required 30 per cent," it said.

For delay in claims provisioning, Irda has directed the company to strictly comply with regulatory provisions and guidelines and said that any instances of under/non provisioning shall be dealt with sternly. For booking business even after expiry of corporate agency licence, Irda ordered the company to have systems in place to block acceptance of business from any entity after expiry of the licence.

In the case of company’s agreement with two airline operators and marketing three different products, Irda said that ICICI Lombard did not file a short statement giving the trade name of the products and components of products and fined it Rs 5 lakh. A Rs 5 lakh fine was imposed for inconsistencies in the name of a product and its related benefits. The violations pertain to the last few financial years, including 2009-10.