Mobility paves Samsung’s silver path
The Korean giant’s early bet on mobile phones helped it hit the $10-bn mark in India, but in its 25th year it ...
Saral Jeevan Bima, the upcoming new standard life insurance policy, will add to the financial security of the commoners and families with lower incomes.
In addition, it also addresses the long-felt need for a simple policy without the complication of trying to understand the terminology of a policy document.
Even for an educated person, the wordings of an insurance policy are difficult to understand, as there are many term products in the market with varying terms and conditions.
With a great difficulty in making choices, customers generally depend on advice of an agent or intermediary, which may also leadto subscribing to a wrong policy and mis-selling by some agents. It is in this regard that a standard policy – where all features are similar – will make buying insurance easy.
Even though pricing of the policy is yet to be decided by insurers, which will be done as part of the product filing norms of the regulator, the fact that the range of life cover has been kept at ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh will surely make it somewhat affordable to commoners, especially those who do not havehave access to insurance.
According to IRDAI data, insurance penetration in India has declined since 2009, and things started improving from 2015, though it has been very tardy.
While the penetration of insurance as a percentage of premium to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was at 3.44 per cent in 2015, it edged up to 3.70 per cent in 2018 (2019 data is not yet available).
Penetration of life insurance alone was at 2.71 per cent in 2015. It remained the same in 2016, increased to 2.76 per cent in 2017 and decreased to 2.74 per cent in 2018.
By making a life insurance policy simple to understand and affordable with a low sum insured, Saral Jeevan Bima is expected to drive growth in the reach of life insurance, going forward.
The regulator’s move to introduce the Saral Jeevan Bima product will also give a big push to standardisation of the insurance products in both life and non-life sectors. It can be seen as a logical sequence after the introduction of the standard health insurance product, Aarogya Sanjeevani, besides standard Covid-specific policies such as Carona Kavach and Corona Rakshak.
Industry experts have also welcomed the move. “The circular is in line with the requirements of the industry and the country. We welcome the move of a standard product that will surely help increase the awareness of protection plans, especially during these uncertain times,” Bharat Kalsi, Chief Financial Officer, Bajaj Allianz Life, told BusinessLine. A product of this construct will also help in insurance penetration within the country, he added.
“As the sum insured provided under the policy is restricted to ₹25 lakh, it is a good option for those who don’t have life insurance as of now,” said Santosh Agarwal, Chief Business Officer-Life Insurance, Policybazaar.com.
“This policy can also be considered as the 11 policy for Bharat, which is providing a minimum sum assured at much lower premium rates,” he said.
The Korean giant’s early bet on mobile phones helped it hit the $10-bn mark in India, but in its 25th year it ...
Antrix should adopt a different tactic than merely fighting over jurisdiction: Experts
Invest in relationships, enterprise, behaviour, effort and learning
From different types of osmoses to new membranes, researchers have come up with ways of drawing water
High valuation and stiff competition from larger players are a dampener
Will a stock continue its current trend or will it reverse? We tell you how you can read chart patterns to ...
Most AMCs have been sending out cryptic e-mails. We tell you how to read between the lines
Slew of factors are building a good foundation for the bulls to work their way up
In these isolated times when people yearn for a slice of the familiar, amateur and professional chefs are ...
‘You ready to go to work?’ Joe Biden had asked Kamala Harris before naming her as his running mate. ‘Oh my ...
Writer Narendra’s latest book, rich with vignettes from Bastar and his native village in Uttar Pradesh, ...
On the eve of his 86th birthday, a peek into an interview-based book that reveals the actor’s many moods, ...
Digital is becoming dominant media, but are companies and their ad agencies transforming fast enough to make a ...
Slow Network, promoted by journalist-lyricist Neelesh Misra, pushes rural products and experiences
How marketers can use the traditional exchange of festive wishes meaningfully
For Fortune, a brand celebrating its 20th anniversary, it was a rude shock to become the butt of social media ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor