New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- The Public Insurance Registry is an attempt by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) to build a digital public infrastructure for insurance.

The proposition is compelling: a single platform bringing together information that customers, nominees, intermediaries, insurers, financial institutions, researchers and the regulator need today from scattered sources. It fits squarely with the regulator's stated goal of Sabka Bima, Sabki Suraksha.

What it promises to change is substantial. Data across life, health, motor, general and agriculture insurance could sit in one place, much as investors today view mutual funds and shares on a single screen. Insurers could use demographic and economic i...