India’s insurance regulator has removed a compliance step that foreign-backed insurance intermediaries had to clear before sending dividends abroad. In a circular dated 22nd Sep., 2026, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India confirmed it no longer requires prior sign-off on those payouts.
IRDAI Repeals Its Dividend Repatriation Guidelines
The circular, Circular No.: IRDAI/INT/CIR/MISC/122/9/2026, is addressed to All Insurance Intermediaries. It formally withdraws the Guidelines on repatriation of dividends by insurance intermediaries having majority by foreign investors, originally issued under reference IRDAI/INT/GDL/MISC/004/01/2020 dated 03.01.2020.
The full repeal notice is available from IRDAI.
What Triggered the Repeal
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has notified the IRDAI (Insurance Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 on 30.07.2026. According to the circular, those amendment regulations were adopted to align the regulatory framework governing insurance intermediaries with the provisions of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025 and the Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Amendment Rules, 2025.
For readers who follow India’s broader intermediary licensing reforms, InsuraBeat has separate coverage of the Authority’s move toward perpetual registration and salesperson tagging for intermediaries.
Two Conditions Removed From the Rulebook
The circular describes, in a single sentence, two conditions removed by the Amendment Regulations:
- the requirement of obtaining prior approval of the Authority for the repatriation of dividends
- the condition on related party payments
The circular does not specify the origin or rationale of the related-party-payments condition — only that it no longer applies going forward.
Both conditions fall away under the amendment regulations referenced above. For these two conditions, the circular does not introduce a replacement approval mechanism or a new notification step — it states that they have been removed.
What the Repeal Does Not Touch
This circular is issued with the approval of the competent authority and addresses the dividend repatriation and related-party payment conditions — two of the changes introduced, among others, by the Amendment Regulations.
The document names these as the two conditions the Amendment Regulations removed.
The circular is signed by Anita Josyula, Chief General Manager – (Intermediaries), and it states that the Guidelines on repatriation of dividends by insurance intermediaries having majority by foreign investors issued vide Ref. No. IRDAI/INT/GDL/MISC/004/01/2020 dated 03.01.2020 are hereby repealed with effect from 30.07.2026.
For readers tracking the opening of India’s insurance sector to overseas capital, InsuraBeat has separate coverage of the shift to full foreign ownership under the automatic route. In a separate development, InsuraBeat has coverage of a major insurer’s stake purchase testing the new foreign ownership ceiling.
