Filing an insurance grievance in India
Written for policyholders in India · Last reviewed 2026-10-10
हिन्दी में पढ़ेंA grievance is a written complaint (a letter or an email) to your insurer. It works better when it is specific, dated, and limited to what your documents can prove.
Step one: the insurer's grievance officer
Every insurer publishes a grievance officer and an address for complaints. Start here: the Insurance Ombudsman takes only a complaint you have first made to the insurer in writing, and the insurer's reply becomes part of your case either way.
What the letter should contain
Keep it factual and short enough to be read in one sitting.
- Who you are
- Policy number, claim number, the insured person, and how to reach you.
- What happened, with dates
- The claim, the treatment or incident, and the decision you received.
- What they said
- Their stated reason, quoted, with the clause they cited.
- Why you disagree
- The facts and the clause wording that answer that reason — not an argument about fairness in general.
- What you are asking for
- Reconsideration of the claim, or the specific relief you want.
- What is enclosed
- A numbered list of the documents attached.
Next, if needed: IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal
If the insurer's response does not resolve it — or none arrives — you can ask IRDAI to look at it by registering the complaint on Bima Bharosa. The insurer should resolve a complaint within 14 days; rules change, so check the current process on the official site.
Or: the Insurance Ombudsman, once its conditions are met
The Ombudsman is free for policyholders and decides on documents and hearings. You can go to it once the insurer has rejected your written complaint, replied unsatisfactorily, or not replied within one month — you do not need to have used Bima Bharosa first. Its other conditions — about value, a one-year time limit, and whether the same matter is before a court or consumer forum — are worth checking before filing.
Read next
- The Insurance Ombudsman — when it can help, and what it expectsWhat the Insurance Ombudsman does, the conditions attached to approaching it, and how to prepare a complaint so it is heard on its merits.
- Your insurance claim was rejected. Here's what to do next.What a rejection letter actually means, how to check the insurer's reason against your own policy, and the steps open to you in India — explained plainly.
- Your claim is taking too long. What you can do.What to do when an insurer neither pays nor rejects: how to chase it on the record, what turnaround expectations exist in India, and when silence becomes a grievance.
- The TPA rejected my claim — is it the TPA's decision or the insurer's?A TPA processes claims for your insurer, but the insurer decides. Who approves a rejection, where to complain, and what to ask when a TPA sent the letter.
- Life insurance death claim rejected — what can the nominee do?Death claim repudiated? How the nominee checks the ground and the Section 45 dates, writes to the insurer, and when the Insurance Ombudsman can help.
- Don't agree with the surveyor's assessment? How to question a motor survey reportDisagree with the surveyor's assessment of your car or bike claim? The survey rules, how to object item by item, a letter outline, and where to escalate it.