Lost the policy document — how do I get a duplicate copy?

Look for the electronic copy first: insurers now issue policies electronically, so check your email, the insurer's website or app, and any DigiLocker or e-Insurance Account link. If you need a paper copy, write to the insurer with whatever identifies the policy and ask what it needs from you. After a death, the family can ask the same way, and a lost original policy should not by itself stop a claim being made.

Under the 2024 policyholder-protection regulations, every insurer "shall issue insurance policies only in the electronic form" (the Authority may allow exemptions), and a policy issued electronically and directly to the policyholder must also be issued in physical form if the policyholder asks. So a policy issued under these rules should exist electronically even if the paper is gone. For an older paper policy, ask the insurer, which keeps the policy record.^[1]

Where to look first

• Email and SMS: Search for the insurer's name or the policy number, including in the email account you used when you bought the policy.
• The insurer's website or app: Check whether it lets you log in with your registered mobile number and download the policy and schedule.
• DigiLocker: IRDAI's master circular requires insurers to enable their systems to work with DigiLocker and to tell policyholders they have done so. Check whether your insurer offers it.^[2]
• An e-Insurance Account: The regulations define an e-Insurance Account as "an electronic insurance account for maintaining insurance policies issued in electronic form". If you opened one, the policy may be there.^[1]
• Your agent, bank or broker: They may have the policy number or a copy. They are not the insurer, so ask the insurer for the official copy.
• Bank statements: Premium debits show the insurer's name and sometimes the policy number, which makes the request to the insurer much easier.

Asking the insurer for a copy

1. 1

   Identify the policy

   The policy number if you have it. If not: the policyholder's name, date of birth and address, the approximate start date, and how premiums were paid.

2. 2

   Ask in writing

   Write to the insurer's servicing branch or customer service email. Ask for the policy document, the schedule, any endorsements and, if a dispute is possible, the proposal form (why it matters).

3. 3

   Ask what it needs from you

   Ask what the insurer's process for a duplicate is — it may ask for a form or a declaration — and get its requirements in writing.

4. 4

   If nothing comes back, complain

   The regulations expect policyholders to be "provided with clear and prompt information in relation to their policies at all times". Policy servicing grievances are also among the grounds the Insurance Ombudsman can consider, once the insurer has rejected your written complaint, not replied within one month of receiving it, or replied unsatisfactorily.^{[1, 3]}

After the policyholder's death

An insurer's claim list can name the original policy: LIC's death-claim requirements, for example, include the "Original Policy Document". If it cannot be found, tell the insurer in writing and ask what it will accept instead.^[4]

A missing original is not, on its own, a ground to refuse the claim: IRDAI's 2024 master circular says no claim shall be rejected or closed for want of documents. The insurer can still ask for what it reasonably needs to identify the policy and the claimant.^[5]

To find a policy you did not know about, look through the person's email, bank statements and papers for premium payments.

ClaimAssure is an independent private platform. It is not an insurer, IRDAI, Bima Bharosa or the Insurance Ombudsman, it never files anything on your behalf, and it cannot promise any outcome. What it does is read your documents and show you what they say.

More on claim documents and evidence