Insurance Ombudsman, Bengaluru

The Insurance Ombudsman covers personal lines of insurance (a policy taken in an individual capacity), group insurance policies, and policies issued to sole proprietorships and micro enterprises. A GROUP POLICY COUNTS EVEN WHEN A COMPANY HOLDS IT: if you are covered under your employer's group health or group life policy, you can approach the Ombudsman — yourself, or through your employer. What falls outside is a company's own commercial cover, such as property, marine or liability, unless the business is a sole proprietorship or a micro enterprise. A pure third-party motor claim goes to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal instead.

The Bengaluru office covers Karnataka. Territorial jurisdiction follows Rule 14(1) of the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017: you may approach the office covering the place where the insurer's (or broker's) branch that dealt with your policy is located, or the office covering your own place of residence. The full district list is on this page; if two offices could both apply to your district, use the PIN-code finder rather than guessing — district names repeat across states, and filing with the wrong office costs weeks.

Jeevan Soudha Building, PID No. 57-27-N-19 Ground Floor, 19/19, 24th Main Road, JP Nagar, 1st Phase, Bengaluru (Karnataka) – 560078. Phone 080-26652048/26652049, email oio.bengaluru@cioins.co.in. You can also file online at https://www.cioins.co.in/Complaint/Online.

No. The Ombudsman charges nothing to register or hear your complaint, and you do not need a lawyer to file one — you can do it yourself, free, at the address above or online. Anyone you choose to pay for help with drafting is a separate decision, and their price should be clear before you pay.

Raised by the Insurance Ombudsman (Amendment) Rules, 2023. The Ombudsman can award up to ₹50 lakh, including relevant expenses (Rule 17(3) proviso (ii)). The same figure applies to your claim value when you file: IRDAI's Master Circular on Protection of Policyholders' Interests routes complaints to the Ombudsman where the claim is up to it, and the Council for Insurance Ombudsmen states the same condition on its filing page. A larger dispute belongs before the consumer commission instead. The Ombudsman's award binds the insurer (Rule 17(8)), which must comply within 30 days of receiving it (Rule 17(6)). Miss that and ₹5,000 for every day of delay is payable to you under the IRDAI Master Circular on Protection of Policyholders' Interests (IRDAI/PP&GR/CIR/MISC/117/9/2024), on top of the penal interest under the Rules — unless the insurer appeals within those 30 days and tells you. The award does not bind you: if the outcome does not satisfy you, you are still free to go to the Consumer Commission or a civil court afterwards, and you do not have to accept an award for it to stand.

You must first put your grievance to the insurer or broker in writing. Only then can you approach the Ombudsman — and only if they rejected it, replied in a way you are not satisfied with, or did not reply within one month of receiving it. You then have one year — but the date it runs from depends on what the insurer did. If they rejected your representation, or replied in a way you were not satisfied with, the year runs from the date you RECEIVED that rejection or decision. If they never replied at all, it runs from one month after the date you SENT the representation — roughly thirteen months from sending. The Ombudsman can condone a late complaint, but that is discretionary, the insurer is heard first, and the complaint then counts as filed on the date the delay is condoned — so it is not something to rely on.