The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority mooted a scheme to enable non-resident Indians to insure their relatives in the country and said easing of norms now allow them to get covered through remittances in forex.

Addressing the NRIs at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet in New Delhi, IRDA chairman N Rangachary said there should be a system of passing the assets of NRIs over to their Indian brethren.

"An opportunity can be taken by those who are residing outside India to provide for those living here. They can use the system of insurance companies to provide for life cover or pensions for their brothers and sisters left behind in India," he said.

IRDA chief said NRIs themselves can get insured from an Indian company in two ways.

"NRIs can either directly remit their premiums to the Indian insurance companies or pay through the Internet," Rangachary said, referring to the recent changes in Insurance Act allowing alternate payment modes.

Apart from this, NRIs can buy insurance cover from Life Insurance Corporation or public sector general insurers in overseas markets where these companies have branches, he said.

He said NRIs in Middle East, Mauritius, Nepal and other countries can buy LIC products now while non-life products are being sold by New India Assurance from 32 overseas branches.

SBI Life CEO R Krishnamurthy said the company was planning to sell its products to NRIs through the branches of State Bank of India, for which necessary approvals are being sought from concerned regulatory bodies in foreign countries.

After opening up of the Indian insurance market to private players, Rangachary said 11 new life insurance and eight general insurers have started operations apart from LIC and four non-life PSUs.

"There has been increase in business but insurance penetration in India is still low," he said.