Consumer Protection and Grievance-Redress in India: A Study of Insurance Industry

Consumer protection and grievance-redress are necessary for ensuring long-term growth of any organisation. While a grievance can result from any business activity, there are certain transactions which are more susceptible to consumer grievances. Insurance is one of them. If a complaint is satisfactorily handled, the consumer will have hardly any occasion to approach a public grievance-redress agency, such as Ombudsman and Consumer Forum. The book, based on a research study, evaluates the mechanism (corporate and public system) for consumer protection and grievance-redress, with special reference to India’s insurance industry. It provides an insight into the grievances voiced by insurance consumers and the approach of companies, Insurance Ombudsman, and the consumer courts, towards their redress. The findings will be useful to policy-makers and policy-holders of insurance companies, regulatory bodies, and grievance-redress agencies. They are also expected to have application in the emerging areas of customer relationship management, services marketing, and consumer protection. Certain measures to reform the grievance-redress system are also suggested.