IGMS
IRDAI's Integrated Grievance Management System — the online portal where a policyholder's complaint against an insurer is registered, tracked, and forwarded to the insurer for resolution.
In plain language
An insurance complaint has to go somewhere once it leaves the insurer's own grievance desk unresolved. For IRDAI, that somewhere is a specific online system.
IGMS stands for the Integrated Grievance Management System. It is IRDAI's own facility for policyholders to register complaints online, and to track their status afterwards.
Once a complaint is registered through IGMS, it is automatically forwarded to the insurer concerned. Even a complaint made outside IGMS, say by letter, still ends up forwarded to the insurer for resolution.
How it works
IGMS sits inside a 2-step escalation path for an insurance grievance: first the insurer's own internal grievance mechanism, then, if the grievance is not addressed satisfactorily, escalation to IRDAI through IGMS. The complaint's status can be tracked online throughout.
If the complainant is still not satisfied after the insurer responds through this route, the next step is the Insurance Ombudsman, not IGMS itself — IGMS is the routing and tracking layer, not the final decision-maker on a disputed claim.
A worked example
A policyholder's Rs 2,50,000 health insurance claim is repeatedly delayed by the insurer, with no clear response after several calls. She registers her complaint through IGMS on IRDAI's website. The complaint is automatically forwarded to her insurer, and she can track its status online rather than chasing the insurer by phone.
If the insurer still does not resolve it satisfactorily after this escalation, her next step is to approach the Insurance Ombudsman for her region — IGMS has done its job of routing and tracking the complaint, but cannot itself award a settlement.
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 20 (Grievance Redress Mechanism), section 20.7.3 (Process regarding escalation of grievance), describes IGMS as the route to IRDAI once an insurer's own response is unsatisfactory, immediately before the Insurance Ombudsman stage. Expect a question naming IGMS as IRDAI's grievance portal, or one sequencing the insurer-to-IGMS-to-Ombudsman escalation correctly.
Common exam traps
- IGMS routes and tracks a complaint; it does not itself decide or award a settlement — that is the Insurance Ombudsman's role, one step further along the same escalation path.
- A complaint made outside IGMS is still forwarded to the insurer — using IGMS is a convenience for online tracking, not the only valid way to escalate.
- Do not confuse IGMS with SCORES, which is SEBI's grievance portal for securities-market complaints, not an insurance one.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series X-ARelated terms
- SCORESSEBI's centralised web-based system for processing investor complaints, on which the company or intermediary must upload an Action Taken Report and the investor can watch the status online.
- Insurance grievanceAny communication expressing dissatisfaction with an insurer's service, action or inaction, or seeking remedial action — the trigger for the entire insurance grievance redress process, starting with the insurer itself.
- Insurance OmbudsmanA person appointed under the Redressal of Public Grievance Rules, 1998, to settle specific insurance disputes, by mediated settlement in 1 month, or a binding award within 3 months of the complaint.