The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is considering tightening regulations by standardizing health insurance products.

The move is aimed at preventing the rise of instances of fraud in a sector that the regulator thinks is picking up fast.

IRDAI has put up its proposed guidelines on its website and has invited opinions and suggestions from the related stakeholders.

IRDAI member (finance) Vijayalaxmi Iyer was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: "We at IRDAI do believe that health insurance is picking up very fast, but so is the fraud.

"We are coordinating with all the research bodies like laboratories, diagnostic centres and hospitals to establish standard norms for various services which are part of the health insurance segment."

Once the current procedure is completed, the suggested reforms will be forwarded to the IRDAI board for its approval.

The new regulations are likely to concentrate on features of the product, enhanced transparency and disclosures in sales literature and disclosures on Web portals for making information more accessible that will help in decision-making.

"The idea is to bring about an orderly and sustainable growth in the industry," added Iyer.

Meanwhile, IRDAI is also in the process of drafting new rules for health insurance that could include higher solvency requirements for the group health segment.