Insurance sector regulator IRDAI has slapped a penalty of over Rs 2 crore on India Infoline Insurance Brokers for violating various norms, including those related to office infrastructure.

The regulator has penalised the broker with a fine of Rs 1 crore each for violating norms on related party transactions and not having its own office infrastructure. A fine of Rs 4 lakh has also been imposed for using unqualified persons for solicitation of business.

"As directed under the respective charges, the penalty of Rs 2,04,00,000 shall be remitted by the insurance broker within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order through NEFT/ RTGS," IRDAI said in an order on Tuesday on its website.

The insurance broker does not have the infrastructure of its own for running its operations, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said.

It is evident from their financial statements that the infrastructure is shared among the group companies and there is no clear demarcation of space and facilities made available to the insurance broker. The sub-lease agreement does not specify all these details, it said.

"For the purpose of sharing infrastructure, the insurance broker is paying a rent of Rs 9.85 crore to their group companies. It is also evident from the telephone bills that the telephone lines are registered in the name of their group company and were being used by the insurance broker for their telemarketing activities," said the regulator.

The reasoning provided by the broker, for utilisation of varying office area every month, does not appear credible enough to conclude that the broker indeed has their own office infrastructure, it added.