S.1 Short title and commencement

       (1) This Act may be called the Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2002.
       (2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint :
       Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.

S.2 Amendment of section 2

       In section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),--
       (a) in clause (1), for the words "qualifications as may be prescribed", the words "qualifications as may be specified by the regulations made by the Autho-rity" shall be substituted;
       (b) in clause (3), sub-clause (v) shall be omitted;
       (c) after clause (8), the following clause shall be inserted, namely :--
       '(8A) "insurance co-operative society" means any insurer being a co-operative society,--
       (a) which is registered on or after the commencement of the Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2002, as a co-operative society under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912 (2 of 1912) or under any other law for the time being

S.3 Amendment of section 2C

       In section 2C of the principal Act, after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be inserted at the end, namely:--
       "(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), an insurance co-operative society may carry on any class of insurance business in India under this Act on or after the commencement of the Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2002.".

S.4 Amendment of section 15

In section 15 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1) for the portion beginning with the words "to the Authority in the case of the accounts and statements" and ending with the words "from the end of the period to which they refer", the words "to the Authority within six months from the end of the period to which they refer" shall be substituted.

S.5 Amendment of section 28A

In section 28A of the principal Act, for the words "in the prescribed form" at both the places where they occur, the words ", in the form specified by the regulations made by the Authority" shall be substituted.

S.6 Amendment of section 28B

In section 28B of the principal Act, for the words "in the prescribed form" at both the places where they occur, the words ", in the form specified by the regulations made by the Authority," shall be substituted.

S.7 Amendment of section 31B

In section 31B of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), for the words "the sum of five thousand rupees in that year", the words "such sum as may be specified by the regulations made by the Authority" shall be substituted.

S.8 Amendment of section 40

       In section 40 of the principal Act,--
       (a) in sub-section (1), for the words "except an insurance agent or a principal, chief or special agent", the words "except an insurance agent or an intermediary or insurance intermediary" shall be substituted;
       (b) in sub-section (2A), for the words "no insurance agent", the words "no insurance agent or intermediary or insurance intermediary" shall be substituted.

S.9 Amendment of section 42

       In section 42 of the principal Act,--
       (a) in sub-section (3), for the brackets and letter "(e)", the brackets and letters "(e), (ea)" shall be substituted;
       (b) in sub-section (4),--
       (i) in clause (e), for the words "that he does not possess", the words "that in the case of an individual, he does not possess" shall be substituted;
       (ii) after clause (e), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:--
       "(ea) that in the case of a company or firm making an application under sub-section (1) or sub-section (3), a director or a partner or one or more of its officers or other employees so designated by it and in the case of any other person, the chief executive, by whatever name called, or one or more of his em

S.10 Amendment of section 42A

       In section 42A of the principal Act, after sub-section (8), the following sub-section shall be inserted at the end, namely :--
       "(9) No insurer shall, on or after the commencement of the Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2002, appoint or transact any insurance business in India through any principal agent, chief agent or special agent.".

S.11 Insertion of new section 42E

       After section 42D of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely :--
       "42E. Commission, brokerage or fee payable to intermediary or insurance intermediary
       (1) No intermediary or insurance intermediary shall be paid or contract to be paid by way of commission, fee or as remuneration in any form, an amount exceeding thirty per cent of the premium payable as may be specified by the regulations made by the Authority, in respect of any policy or policies effected through him :
       Provided that the Authority may specify different amounts payable by way of commission, fee or as remuneration to an intermediary or insurance intermediary for different classes of business of insurance.
       (2) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in thi

S.12 Amendment of section 49

       In section 49 of the principal Act,--
       (a) in sub-section (1),--
       (i) for the words and figure "balance sheet in Form I as set forth in the Fourth Schedule", the words "balance-sheet in such form as may be specified by the regulations made by the Authority" shall be substituted;
       (ii) for the second proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely :--
       "Provided further that the share of any such surplus allocated to or reserved for the shareholders, (including any amount for the payment of dividends guaranteed to them, whether by way of first charge or otherwise), shall not exceed such sums as may be specified by the Authority and such share shall in no case exceed ten per cent of such surplus in case of participating policies and in other c

S.13 Amendment of section 64VB

       In section 64VB of the principal Act, after sub-section (5), the following sub-section shall be inserted at the end, namely:--
       "(6) The Authority may, from time to time, specify, by the regulations made by it, the manner of receipt of premium by the insurer.".

S.14 Insertion of new Part IIIA

After Part III of the principal Act, the following Part shall be inserted, namely :--

S.15 Amendment of section 101A

       In section 101A of the principal Act, in sub-section (8), for clause (ii), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :--
       '(ii) "Indian re-insurer" means an Indian insurance company which has been granted a certificate of registration under sub-section (2A) of section 3 by the Authority to carry on exclusively the re-insurance business in India.'.

S.16 Amendment of section 114

In section 114 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), clause (a) shall be omitted.

S.17 Amendment of section 114A

       In section 114A of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),--
       (i) for clause (a), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely :--
       "(a) the qualifications to be possessed by actuaries;
       (aa) the matters including fee relating to the registration of insurers under section 3;";
       (ii) in clause (g), for the words "fourth proviso", the words "fifth proviso" shall be substituted;
       (iii) after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely :--
       "(ia) the form in which a return showing the investments made out of the controlled fund shall be submitted by an insurer carrying on life insurance business under sub-section (1) of section 28A;
  &n

S.18 Omission of Schedules

The First Schedule, the Second Schedule, the Third Schedule and the Fourth Schedule to the principal Act shall be omitted.