LIC plans for handicapped dependants - Jeevan Aadhar

Features:

Product summary
This plan may be offered to a person who has a handicapped dependant satisfying conditions as specified in Section 80DDA of Income Tax Act, 1961. The plan provides life insurance cover throughout the lifetime of the purchaser. The benefits under the plan are for the handicapped dependant which are partly in lump sum and partly in the form of an annuity.
The premiums paid under this plan are eligible for Income Tax relief under Section 80DDA of Income Tax Act.
Premiums:
Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly or through Salary deductions, as opted by you, within the selected premium paying terms of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 or 35 years or till the earlier death. Alternatively, the premiums may be paid in one lump sum (Single Premium).
Guaranteed Additions:
The policy provides for the Guaranteed Additions at the rate of Rs.100 per thousand Sum Assured for each completed policy year. The Guaranteed Additions will accrue up to age 65 of the life assured or till his/her death, if earlier.
Terminal Additions:
This is a with-profits plan and participates in the profits of the Corporation’s life insurance business.  It gets a share of the profits in the form of Terminal Additions.  The policy will be entitled for Terminal Additions if at least 10 years premiums have been paid. The Terminal additions would depend on the future experience of the Corporation.

Benefits:

Death Benefit:
On the death of the Life Assured, Sum Assured together with the Guaranteed Additions and terminal additions, if any, become payable. 20% of such benefit amount shall be paid in lump sum and the balance amount shall be utilized to provide an annuity of 15 years certain and for life thereafter on the life of the handicapped dependant. The annuity rates are guaranteed for this purpose.
If the handicapped dependant predeceases the Life Assured during the premium paying term of the policy, the contract ceases and the Life Assured will have the option of either keeping the policy for a reduced paid-up Sum Assured or receive the refund of premiums.
Maturity Benefit:
Since this is a whole of life plan there will be no maturity benefit.
Supplementary/Extra Benefits:
These are the optional benefits that can be added to your basic plan for extra protection/option.  An additional premium is required to be paid for these benefits.
Surrender Value:
Since the plan has been designed for the benefit of handicapped dependant, surrender of the policy is not allowed.
Note: The above is the product summary giving the key features of the plan.  This is for illustrative purpose only.  This does not represent a contract and for details please refer to your policy document.

Benefits Illustration:

Statutory Warning: “Some benefits are guaranteed and some benefits are variable with returns based on the future performance of your insurer carrying on life insurance business. If your policy offers guaranteed returns then these will be clearly marked “guaranteed” in the illustration table on this page. If your policy offers variable returns then the illustrations on this page will show two different rates of assumed future investment returns. These assumed rates of return are not guaranteed and they are not the upper or lower limits of what you might get back as the value of your policy is dependent on a number of factors including future investment performance.”

Illustration 1 (Table 114)
Age ate entry: 35 years
Age of dependant: 5 years
Premium paying term: 15 years
Sum Asured: Rs. 1,00,000/-
Annual premium: Rs. 4095/-

Year	Premium Paid (Rs.)	Benefit on death of life assured payable at the end of year (Rs.)
		Guaranteed	Variable		Total
			Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 1	Scenario 2
1	4095	100000	0	0	100000	100000
2	8190	110000	0	0	110000	110000
3	12285	120000	0	0	120000	120000
4	16380	130000	0	0	130000	130000
5	20475	140000	0	0	140000	140000
6	24570	150000	0	0	150000	150000
7	28665	160000	0	0	160000	160000
8	32760	170000	0	0	170000	170000
9	36855	180000	0	0	180000	180000
10	40950	190000	0	0	190000	190000
15	61425	240000	0	0	240000	240000
20	61425	290000	0	1000	290000	291000
30	61425	390000	0	33000	390000	423000
40	61425	400000	0	140000	400000	540000

* 20% of the amount shall be paid in lump sum and the balance of 80% shall be utilised to pay an annuity on the life of handicapped dependant. For example, if the life assured dies during 15th year, then Rs.48,000/- will be paid in a lump sum and Rs.17,530/- will be paid as yearly annuity for 15 years certain and thereafter so long the handicapped dependant survives.

i) This illustration is applicable to a non-smoker male/female standard (from medical, life style and occupation point of view) life.

ii) The non-guaranteed benefits (1) and (2) in above illustration are calculated so that they are consistent with the Projected Investment Rate of Return assumption of 6% p.a.(Scenario 1) and 10% p.a. (Scenario 2) respectively. In other words, in preparing this benefit illustration, it is assumed that the Projected Investment Rate of Return that LICI will be able to earn throughout the term of the policy will be 6% p.a. or 10% p.a., as the case may be. The Projected Investment Rate of Return is not guaranteed.

iii) The main objective of the illustration is that the client is able to appreciate the features of the product and the flow of benefits in different circumstances with some level of quantification.

 

Aviva Scholar advantage

-->

Aviva Young Scholar Advantage

It is a comprehensive plan that enables you to secure your child’s future in any eventuality through: 

 All future premiums being waived off and invested as a lump sum amount in to the funds, so the policy continues even in the unfortunate event of the parent’s death while the Life Cover (Sum Assured) is paid out immediately. 

These benefits are also applicable upon disability or critical illness if the Comprehensive Health Benefit (CHB) Rider is opted.

Provision of a regular income for the minor child, in the event of parent’s death if Aviva Child Education (CE) Rider is opted for An additional lumpsum being paid in the event of parent’s death if Aviva Term Plus Rider is opted.

Loyalty Additions to enhance your Fund ValueA choice of 9 fund options; Investment flexibility through Automatic Asset Allocation  and Systematic Transfer Plan.

The product will be offered only to those who have atleast one child

Top Insurance Companies in India

 

Different types of insurance such as home insurance, travel insurance, life insurance, health insurance, car insurance etc. 

According to law and economics, insurance is a kind of risk management chiefly based to avoid the risk of financial loss. In simple terms, insurance allows compensation for the insured who suffer a loss or accident caused by misfortunes and natural calamities. Insurance helps you to protect yourself against various risks related to health, home, properties and financial situation. 

The main aim of all insurance is to recompense the insured from all loss that arises from a variety of risks, which he or she expects from his life, property and business. Therefore insurance is most essential to protect you from all losses by avoiding financial devastation and crisis. 

Insurance has been a form of savings in many countries, and in many developed countries, a high portion of domestic saving is in the form of insurance plans and policies. This is not surprising and we can also find this system in many developing countries like South Africa, India, Chile and Italy etc. Usually there is rapid growth in insurance when the income level of a country improves.

Earlier, there were only two insurance companies that operated the insurance sector in India, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the other General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). But on December 2000, the subsidiaries were declared independent and began to operate as independent insurance companies. 

In India, insurance is really a matter of concern and both the life insurance as well as the general insurance is booming with huge possibilities. According to statistics the life insurance premiums and the general insurance premiums accounts to 2.5% and 0.65% of India’s GDP respectively. The Indian Insurance sector has undergone several changes and phases and today it has established firmly by contributing a lot to the Indian economy.

Top Insurance Companies in India

There are many insurance companies providing their services in India. Some of the well known companies are:

1. Aviva Life Insurance Company India Limited

2. HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited

3. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited

4. Max New York Life Insurance Company Limited

5. Bharti AXA Insurance

6. Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited

7. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company

8. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited

9. MetLife India Insurance Company Private Limited

10. Birla Sun Life Insurance

11. Kotak Mahindra Insurance Limited

12. United India Insurance Company Limited

13. New India Assurance Company

14. Royal Sundaram Alliance Limited

15. Cholamandalam Insurance MS Limited

16. Max Bupa Health Insurance.

unbelievable fact-58% smokers without insurance in India

Despite being exposed to perils of heavy smoking, a majority of smokers (58%) in India do not have any form of health insurance, a survey conducted by private non-life insurer ICICI Lombard has found.

Further, a city-wise break-up shows that the percentage of smokers with a health cover is significantly lower in Delhi (34%) and Bangalore (28%). This, despite 85% of the respondent smokers across the country admitting to smoking more than once daily. Mumbai (59%) and Kolkata (45%) fare much better in this regard. According to the survey findings, health insurance is primarily purchased by self in Delhi (68%) and Mumbai (50%), whereas most Bangalorean respondents (52%) seemed to rely on their parents or family for the purpose.

Conducted ahead of the No Tobacco Day on May 31, the ICICI Lombard-Gfk Mode survey polled 914 habitual smokers - that is, those who smoke at least once a day - across these four cities. The country's financial capital earned the dubious distinction of topping the average consumption list, with 32% of Mumbai's respondents saying that they smoked 7-10 cigarettes in a day, on an average. Kolkata was the next on the list, with 29% of those polled admitting to smoking 4-6 cigarettes a day. Influence of friends or peers (87%) and work pressure (31%) emerged as the chief factors that prompted respondents to take up smoking. ""Shockingly, a large portion of smokers (77%) feel that smoking or limited smoking will not have any adverse impact on their health,"" the study added.

However, the numbers point to the contrary, belying their confidence. ICICI Lombard's internal analysis of its last two years' claims showed that 5% of the total cancer claims were directly related to tobacco consumption. ""Out of these,75% claims were made by male customers and 25% by female customers. The most affected age-group for tobacco-related claims was 46-55 years, with 31% male and 41% female customers contributing to this age bracket,"" the study said.

Moreover, 65% of the respondents were not aware of the concessional premiums for non-smokers. At the moment, only life insurers offer discounts to non-smokers in their term insurance policies."" However, going forward, health insurers too could take this parameter into account and start incentivising the non-smokers. Even today, it is factored into our underwriting process. For instance, a smoker over the age of 45 may be asked to go through more rigorous health check-ups compared to a non-smoker,"" said Shankar Nath, head, marketing and direct, ICICI Lombard.

Shriram Life Insurance aims to sell 2 lakh policies in 2013-14

-->

Shriram Life Insurance Company, part of the diversified Rs 60,000 crore business conglomerate Shriram Group, has reported 46.4 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 82 crore for the year ending March 31, 2013.

The Chennai-based company has reported net profit at Rs 56 crore during the corresponding period of previous year, Shriram Life Insurance said in a statement.

The company had sold 1.54 lakh policies for the period ending March 31, 2013 with a total gross premium of Rs 618 crore, it said

For the financial year ending March 31, 2012 the company had sold 1.31 lakh policies.

--> "During the year 2012-13, the new business premium grew by 7 per cent over last year to Rs 421 crore. This growth is commendable in times when industry has degrown by 6 per cent", Shriram Life Insurance, Managing Director, Akhila Srinivasan said.

"We have planned to sell about two lakh policies in the current financial year and aim to register a 30 per cent growth on its new business premium.", Srinivasan said.

The company's current paid up capital was Rs 175 crore, she said.

"We will continue to consolidate in southern market, but our major focus is to expand North and West. We plan to add around 50-70 new offices in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat..", Shriram Life Insurance, CEO, Manoj Jain said. -->

ING life launches golden years retirement plan

Private insurer ING Life Insurance today launched a traditional retirement solution, ING Golden Years Retirement Plan.

The product aims to build a retirement corpus, provide guaranteed returns and also offers multiple flexibilities to customers, a top executive said.

"ING Golden Years Retirement Plan is designed to ensure that you live an independent life without compromising on your standard or quality of living during your golden years of life," ING Life Insurance Chief Financial Officer Uco Vegter said.

"Our past experience and track record in managing a healthy retirement portfolio has helped us come with this great offering. We are sure our customers will find this as a solution with a host of flexibilities," he added.

The key benefits of Golden Years Retirement Plan are growth with minimum guarantee, consistent bonus track record on existing retirement plans, flexibility like top-up premium, premium payment options, postponement of retirement age, loyalty benefit, regular and disciplined savings, life cover and tax savings.

Headquartered in Bangalore, ING Vysya Life Insurance is 100 per cent owned by Exide Industries.

HDFC Life launches ClassicAssure+

HDFC Life today launched a participating, traditional insurance plan, Classic Assure Plus, with limited premium payment term and a guaranteed reversionary bonus during the premium payment term.

"HDFC Life ClassicAssure Plus is a participating, traditional insurance plan that offers limited premium payment term along with a guaranteed reversionary bonus during the premium payment term.

"In line with the new regulation, the plan also offers higher death benefit during the policy term," HDFC Life Vice President, Products, Sanjay Tiwari said in a release issued here.

In February 2013, the regulator had issued non-linked and linked life insurance products regulations to ensure that all products are consistent in design and are focused on meeting policyholders' expectations.

The key benefits of plan are limited premium paying terms of seven and 10 years, maturity benefit, death benefit like sum assured and 10 times annualised premium.

It also provides benefits of high sum assured discount and policy loan.

The term limits for the plan is 10-15 years, the minimum age of entry is 8-3 years and the maximum age of entry is 55-60 years.

HDFC Life is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), India's leading housing finance institution and Standard Life plc, the leading provider of financial services in the United Kingdom.

HDFC Life's new endowment plan: Suitable for those seeking secure returns..

HDFC Life has launched a new endowment plan - named Classic Assure Plus - that conforms to the new regulations for traditional products framed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority ( IRDA).

The new product is a participating endowment plan that offers limited premium payment terms of 7-10 years. For instance, you can choose to pay premiums for seven years, while the cover continues for 10-15 years. The plan offers a guaranteed reversion bonus of 3% per annum during the premium payment term. Policyholders could be eligible for bonuses post the expiry of the premium-paying term and terminal bonus, if any, declared by the company.

In case of the policyholder's death during the policy tenure, the nominees will receive the higher of the sum assured, ten times the annual premium or 105% of the premiums paid in addition to bonus earned so far. Policyholders are also allowed to avail a loan against the policy, if it has acquired a surrender value.
Upside: The product could appeal to those who are sold on the insurance-cum-investment proposition and are looking at a secure investment avenue; endowment plans essentially invest in debt instruments.
Downside: If your objective is saving for your long-term goals, remember, the return-generating ability of debt products like endowment plans is limited, compared to equity-oriented plans. Financial planners regard equity as the best asset class for long-term investments.

Reliance General Insurance hopes to grow 20% in FY14

MUMBAI:

 Private sector general insurer Reliance General Insurance expects to grow around 20 per cent in the current financial year, a top company official said.

"We hope to grow around 20 per cent in this fiscal. Our focus is on growing both on top-line and bottom-line fronts," Chief Executive Officer of Reliance General Insurance, Rakesh Jain told PTI here over the weekend.

The private general insurer had a premium growth of 17.37 per cent to Rs 2,010 crore by the end of last financial year.

Jain said the company would like to have profitable growth with focus on value than on volume alone.

Referring to focus areas, Jain said the company would concentrate on weather insurance along with liabilities side to drive growth in the current financial year.

"Currently, while retail contributes 80 per cent of the total business, 20 per cent comes from the corporate side. We want to bring a balance between the two and seek to increase corporate line of business to 25 per cent in the near future," he said, adding weather and liabilities would be major focus areas to grow the corporate business pie in the overall business.

According to the company, it will also bring some balance in motor insurance segment in future.

He also said the company hopes to do better on the underwriting front in the current fiscal.

"We have been profitable entity-wise in the last two quarters. I also hope that things will be better in the underwriting front in the future," Jain said.

On the new product launch, the private insurer said it would come up with a new health product along with a catastrophe product for retail segment in the future.

Reliance General Insurance, which offers auto, health, property, travel, marine and commercial insurance products among others, is a part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's financial services arm Reliance Capital.

If your car is stolen, there’s no time bar to claim insurance...

MUMBAI: A consumer forum has held that the condition with regard to the time limit in intimating an insurance claim is not mandatory but directory. The forum directed Oriental Insurance Company to pay Rs 1.54 lakh compensation along with the insured amount of Rs 4.86 lakh to a Mulund-based man whose vehicle was stolen. The company had repudiated his claim on the ground that he had not intimated them about the claim within the mandatory 48-hour period.

The forum cited a state commission order which said, "This clause is meant for the interest of the insured, in order to facilitate the scrutiny of the claim. This clause therefore, cannot be used in determent to the interest of the insurer."

The vehicle owner Chetan Kohli said that he purchased the Bolero Sport 7 star vehicle for Rs 4.86 lakh on December 18, 2009. He alleged that on the morning of January 8, 2010, he could not find his vehicle at the space in which it was parked and eventually realised that it was stolen.

Kohli immediately informed the police and an FIR was lodged. He also informed the insurance company about the theft and told them that he wanted to file the claim. The company, however, asked Kohli to visit its office along with all the documents of the vehicle. He in turn informed them that since the vehicle was new he did not have the papers and had to collect them from the RTO Office.

The company advised Kohli to first collect the vehicle papers and RTO registration papers and then file the claim form. However, when he finally managed to procure the documents and submit the claim in March 2010, his claim was rejected on the ground that it was not intimated within the mandatory period of 48 hours.

Aggrieved, Kohli filed a complaint on August 18, 2010 in the South Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. He alleged that the insurance company never informed him that there was a mandatory submission time. Kohli said that he was wrongly advised to get the papers first and then contact the insurance company. In the forum, the insurance company iterated its stand.

The forum said that Kohli had specifically informed the company that he did not have the documents, immediately after the theft of his vehicle occurred. It held that under such facts and circumstances the repudiation was not justifiable. "We therefore, hold that the opposite party (insurance company) cannot repudiate the genuine claim of the insured simply on the ground that there was no communication within the stipulated point of time," the forum said.

Reliance Life Insurance launches Smart Pension Plan 11 june 2013

 RLIC (Reliance Life Insurance Corporation)one of the largest selling private life insurers, today announced the launch of its innovative pension scheme 'Reliance Life Insurance Smart Pension Plan'.

The new plan is a comprehensive non-participating unit-linked pension plan that offers a range of benefits and encourages early saving for post-retirement financial independence.

Announcing the launch, Mr. Anup Rau, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Life Insurance, said, "With increasing life expectancy, there is a need to encourage long-term savings habit amongst the youth. We have carefully created this innovative pension plan that allows individuals to start early, create a long term corpus, and benefit from comprehensive features built in the plan to offer post-retirement security"

'Reliance Life Insurance Smart Pension Plan' offers a range of unique benefits including: starting as early as 18 in order to benefit from the power of compounding; the only retirement plan that offers rider options to customers to safeguard against accidental death, illnesses and even life insurance; guaranteed returns and loyalty additions safeguard against volatile market conditions.

Reliance Life Smart pension Plan is available for individuals in the age group of 18-65 years with a minimum policy term of 10 years and a maximum of policy tenure 30 years, while the maturity/vesting age is between 45 and 75 years.

It is tailor-made to include riders, guaranteed returns and flexibility of premium payment that allows creation of long-term corpus for post-retirement and provide safeguards against life's uncertainties.

"This is the one-of-its-kind product in the insurance industry with a host of rider options that help customers enhance their ambit of benefits during the policy term. We are confident that Reliance Life Smart Pension Plan will change the way people save for their retirement and we expect it to be the most preferred way of pursuing a pension plan," Mr. Rau added.

Reliance Life Insurance Smart Pension Plan provides as many as five rider options - Reliance Accidental Death and Total and Permanent Disablement Rider, Reliance Term Life Insurance Benefit Rider, Reliance New Major Surgical Benefit Rider, Reliance New Critical Conditions Benefit Rider and Reliance Life Insurance Family Income Benefit Rider. The optional riders are available on payment of additional premium over and above the base premium .

insurance strategies for 2013

Another major development was the Cabinet's approval for the Insurance Bill. The legislation raises the 26% foreign ownership limit in insurance companies to 49%. If passed by Parliament, it could lead to foreign participants pumping more funds and expertise into their companies.

The year also saw a surge in online purchases of insurance policies. Online term plans became a big hit with Internet-savvy buyers, especially young professionals aged 25-35 years, who found the channel convenient and cost-effective.

Insurance companies expect the trend to gather steam in 2013. "The online channel will see the next wave of innovation in insurance. More companies will launch online products, with competitive pricing, right advice, jargon- free documentation and simple purchase experience," says Gaurav Rajput, director, marketing, Aviva India.

However, 2012 also saw the return of mis-selling, the scourge of the insurance sector. After the capping of Ulip charges in 2010, sales of market-linked plans have dropped drastically. Instead, agents are focusing on traditional plans, where the commission is 35-50% of the premium in the initial years.

Irda is ready with new guidelines for traditional policies, which are likely to cap the charges and commissions of these plans. The regulator is also expected to formulate comprehensive guidelines for the health insurance sector.

"These could be game changers for this industry," says Manasije Mishra, CEO designate of Max Bupa Health Insurance.

The pension space saw a significant change with the increase in the charges of the NPS. The fund management charge was raised from 0.0009% to 0.25%. This may revive interest in the distributors of the pension scheme.

 

Strategy for 2013

Given the cost and other advantages, it is best to buy insurance online. "Time is not a constraint in online purchases. Customers have logged in at 2 a.m. to buy term insurance," says Yateesh Srivastava, chief marketing officer of Aegon Religare Life Insurance.

If you are buying through a broker, be on your guard against mis-selling, or worse, cheating and forgery. There was a disturbing rise in such cases in 2012.

Retirement products, which virtually vanished from the market after Irda insisted on imposing certain conditions, are back. HDFC Life was the first insurer to launch pension plans under the new guidelines.

However, the charges are considerably higher than those of the NPS. The government-managed scheme is by far the cheapest way to save for your retirement, though finding a distributor who is ready to sell the NPS is an uphill task.