Best Term Insurance Plans in India

Best Term Insurance Plans in IndiaBest Term Insurance Plans in India

Term Insurance Plans in India are best as they come with high risk coverage and low premiums and in case of unfortunate death of the life insured, the nominee would get sum assured. However identifying best term insurance plans in India may be difficult as your insurance agent may cheat you by just looking at his commissions and do not worry about its suitability for you. This article is based on request from Vikas and Seetharaman who requested on “Suggest-a-topic” to write about Best Term insurance plans in India.

Identification of best term insurance plans in India

Now the tricky part is about identifying the good term insurance plans in India. There are a few parameters which we have taken to identify them.

1) Settlement ratio: Settlement ratio plays a key role in identifying a good term insurance plan. Settlement ratio is nothing but the claims settled by an insurance company against the total settlements received. The higher settlement ratio is good for the company as claim rejection chances are very less from such insurance companies.

2) Enhanced Features: Though every term insurance program would possess its own features, any enhanced and additional features would be helpful for individuals looking for insurance.

3) Customer service: One more key point which I felt is to look for a term insurance plan where customer service of such insurance company is good. There is no point in choosing a term insurance and your family struggling to bring the claim accepted due to delay or poor response from the insurance company.

Also read: How to choose best term insurance plan in India

Best Term Insurance Plans in India

1) LIC Amulya Jeevan Term Insurance Plan: This is pure offline term insurance plan from LIC. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 97.4%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of death of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 60 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 70 years
  • Policy is available for 5 to 35 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 25 Lakhs and Max Sum assured – No limit
  • Exclusions: In case of suicide committed by insured before 1 year, no claim would be paid
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: Rs 33,600 per annum

Though the premium looks high, I feel this is one of the best term insurance plans in India which one should consider.

2) ICICI I-Care Term Insurance Plan: This is a pure term insurance plan from ICICI which is available to buy online. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 96.5%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of demise of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • I-Care option-II available with accidental death benefit feature equal to sum assured for maximum of Rs 50L with small extra premium. Means if you are taking Rs 50 L term insurance with accidental death benefit feature, your total sum assured would be Rs 1 Crore (Rs 50 L + Rs 50 L).
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 65 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 75 years
  • Policy is available for 5 to 30 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 10 Lakhs and Max Sum assured for 50 year individual is Rs 1.5 Crore and 65 year individual is Rs 70 Lakhs
  • Exclusions: In case of suicide committed by insured before 1 year, no claim would be paid
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: I-care Rs 12,360 and with accidental death benefit feature it would be Rs 15,281

I feel this is one of the good term insurance plan in India which comes with an accidental death benefit rider where you can get the additional sum assured of Rs 50 Lakhs with small additional premium.

Also read: Best Mediclaim Policy in India

3) HDFC Click-2-Protect Term Insurance Plan: This is pure online term insurance plan from HDFC. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 96.2%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of demise of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 55 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 65 years
  • Policy is available for 10 to 30 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 10 Lakhs and Max Sum assured – 10 Crores
  • Low premiums for tobacco users
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: Rs 10,200
  • I personally had a bad experience in reaching customer support for more than 45 days to consider this plan as I want to take some additional benefits which are available only offline. Few readers on this blog expressed that customer support is good for this insurance company.

If customer support is improved, no doubt this could be the best term insurance plan in India with high settlement ratio and low premium.

4) SBI Smart Shield Term Insurance Plan: This is pure offline term insurance plan from SBI Life. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 95.5%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of death of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 65 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 70 years
  • Policy is available for 5 to 30 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 25 Lakhs and Max Sum assured – No limit
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: Rs 11,925
  • Accident death rider, permanent disability riders are discontinued w.e.f. 1-Oct-2013.

5) Kotak e-Preferred Term Insurance Plan: This is online term insurance plan from Kotak life. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 92.1%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of demise of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 65 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 70 years
  • Policy is available for 5 to 30 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 25 Lakhs and Max Sum assured – No limit
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: Rs 12,921
  • Covers tobacco users with low premium
  • This policy available with step-up option and step-down option
  • Step-up option: When an individual is married or brought first house, sum assured can be increased by 50% with additional premiums. In case of birth of a child or during the policy anniversary of 1/3/5 years, 25% sum assured can be enhanced with additional premium. The additional premium payable would be 3% of the basic premium (before 15 years from policy date) and 5% of the basic premium (after 15 years from policy date).
  • Step-down option: Similarly in case you feel you do not need high sum insured, you can reduce it with step-down option with some terms and conditions.
  • Step-up and step-down option is a unique feature of Kotak e-Preferred Term insurance plan which is not available in major term insurance plans. These extra features make this as best term insurance plan in India comparing to others.
  • Kotak website indicates that critical illness riders are available. However all major companies have discontinued these riders w.e.f. 1-Oct-2013 as per IRDA guidelines, hence I am thinking that the info available on Kotak website is yet to be updated. The website still shows that these features are available.

Also read: Premium return plan from Max Newyork Life insurance

6) Birla Sun Life Protector Plus Term Insurance Plan: This is pure offline term insurance plan from LIC. Below are the features of this plan:

  • The claim settlement ratio of this company for FY 2011-12 is 90.9%
  • Sum assured would be paid to nominee in case of demise of the life insured. No maturity benefit or survival benefit. No loans can be taken from such plans.
  • Minimum age : 18 years and Max is 65 years. Maximum age at maturity should be 75 years
  • Policy is available for 5 to 30 year term
  • Minimum sum assured: Rs 50 Lakhs and Max Sum assured – No limit
  • Premium for Rs 1 Crore sum assured for a 30 year individual for the 30 year policy term: Rs 15,650

Below is the comparison chart of these Best Term Insurance Plans in India

Best Term insurance plans in India-Features

*Claim settlement ratio is at insurance company level and not for specific policy.

Conclusion: Based on your individual requirement, you can choose one of these good term insurance plan among the top ones which are listed above.

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Suresh

Best Term Insurance Plans in India

Suresh KP

70 comments

  1. sir i m dr ashok gaikwad from maharashtra gen surgeon ,age 55 want to have a health insurance policy i m having hypertension ,which policy i have to purchase ,i m intrested in lic, sbi ,bajaj ,and requirement is up to 5to 7 lacs for myself only ,which will be better i m reading somany artical for this but confused ,or any other you suggest ….dr ashok gaikwad

  2. Dear Suresh, I had a bad experience with LIC’s Amulya Jeevan Term Policy.

    I am working in Calicut (Kerala) and I have purchased the Rs. 50 lakh term policy (LIC Order Number: 82812699017917) through LIC Direct online.

    The transaction was done on Nov. 19, 2014 by paying an amount of Rs. 10, 500/- . The hard copy was sent as directed on 25th Nov. 2014. In fact I received a phone call from Mr. Ujwal Kumar Ghosh to whom I was directed to send the had copy of the signed proposal form; on 17th December 2014 at around 1:30 pm mentioning that he had received my signed application form with photographs and he was sending it to Calicut (Kerala) office for my medical test and fixing of Premium. But till date (24th May 2015) no intimation was received by me for any medical test not I have received any other communication.

    I have contacted LIC direct customer service over phone several times, and after several requests through phone and email, they have send me a scan copy of the deposit receipt. That was on first week of March 2015. Further on contacting over phone, they said that my application is under processing, and soon I will be intimated towards my medical test at Calicut to fix the premium. But till date I have received no intimation.

    It is a matter of deep concern that LIC direct is handling its customers with such lethargic manner.

    Few days back I have sent a email to LIC’s grievance cell.(co_crm@licindia.com)

    Please advise, what should I do?

    Today, after paying Rs. 10,500/- SIX months back; and I have no live policy.

    1. Jayant, Very bad to hear your experience. I hope LIC grievance cell would be able to resolve it. Have you contact LIC customer care before approaching LIC grievance cell?

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