A day after the Supreme Court’s judgment on Aadhaar, ICICI Lombard General Insurance has said that it will stop asking for Aadhaar details from customers for authentication purposes to issue new policies, or while getting into new customer relationships.

The private general insurer would, however, wait for guidance from the authorities on the treatment of Aadhaar authentication data that is already with the company, Sanjay Datta, Chief-Underwriting, Claims, Reinsurance and Actuaria, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, told BusinessLine.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had, on Wednesday, in a ruling on Aadhaar, held that private companies cannot ask for Aadhaar data from customers for authentication purposes and that they cannot retain authentication data beyond six months.

“We are waiting for instructions on whether we should voluntarily purge the Aadhaar-related authentication data already with us or wait for the customer to demand its removal,” said Datta.

For the year ended March 2018, ICICI Lombard General Insurance was the largest private general insurer in the country in terms of turnover (gross written premium) and the second-largest by profits.

Datta said that the Supreme Court’s Aadhaar judgment will not materially impact ICICI Lombard General Insurance’s business.