In the midst of the whole hullabaloo around the sharing of regulatory jurisdiction in ULIPs, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), has taken a strong step ahead.

IRDA issued its set of guidelines for the financial instruments, a report by private news channel CNBC TV 18 revealed on Tuesday.

One of the main clauses is that the ULIPs are going to have five years as their policy term. Earlier, it was just three years.

These ULIPs are payable in case of death and are like any other insurance cover. The only thing is that the money thus raised is invested in the capital markets.

The insurance regulator has also said that the pension schemes should also be considered as insurance products and thus should be included in that cover.

As per the old rules, ULIPs are not considered as loans and a person, like any other long-term investment instrument, can be drawn only after the fifth year now. The new guidelines are supposed to become operation from July 1.

Talking about this, A Giridhar, Executive Director, IRDA said that the new guidelines are just a part of the periodic review.