Top 7 Best Term Insurance Plans in India in 2017
Life is full of surprises. There is no guarantee that an individual who has gone out from home would return back safely. Many of us would have created beautiful goals for the family, children education or daughter marriage. However such goals would vanish with the loss of the earning parent in the family. One of the best ways to secure such goals is to take Term Insurance Plan. Term Insurance Plans would come with low cost and high sum assured and secures your family in such loss. How to pick-up a good term insurance plan? Which are the best Term Insurance Plans for 2017? What are the Top 7 Best Term Plans for 2017 that has high claim settlement ratio? Instead of simple sum assured, are there any unique term plans which are more features?
Also Read: How to choose a best Health Insurance Plan in India?
What are Term Insurance Plans?
If you are aware about Term insurance plan, skip this section.
Term insurance Plan is a simple insurance plan where if the individual insured dies, their family / nominee would get the sum assured. There is no maturity amount in term insurance plan. These are insurance plans that have risk coverage only. One would not get any money back or maturity amount at maturity.
As per recent guidelines from IRDA, after 3 years from the date of policy, a claim cannot be rejected citing any reason. Hence, claim settlement ratio is no more a major criteria in deciding the good term insurance plan, however it still needs to be considered as one of the point.
How I picked-up Best Term Insurance Plan in India for 2017?
There are several things that needs to be considered while picking up top and best term insurance plan in India. However, I have considered 4 major parameters.
1) Claim Settlement Ratio(CSR)
As of 2015-2016, there are 24 insurance companies which are registered in India. However, only 10 companies have declared claim settlement ratio of more than 90%. CSR means the ratio of settled claims over the total claims received by the insurance company. Lower CSR means, company is rejecting more claims and in future your family could be victim out of that. I have filtered companies that has high claim settlement ratio of over 93%.
2) Company Reputation and Operating history
How good is the insurance company? The higher the duration of the insurance company registered, it is better. If insurance companies are registered in last 3-5 years, are they good? Not at all. Hence, we have filtered Insurance companies that have good operating history of more than 10 years.
3) Good Features and more Options in Term insurance plan
What about good insurance company, that do not offer much options? No one would really want to opt for that. I have filtered Term insurance plan which are basic features + additional features that would be helpful for individuals who are planning to take term plans.
4) Low Premium
While Premium is not the only criteria, we have given preference to term insurance plans which are being offered at low premiums with more features.
Also Read:
Top 7 Best Term Insurance Plans for 2017
Here are the Top 7 Best Term Insurance Plans for 2017. We are giving major features of each and every term insurance plan.
1) LIC e-Term Insurance Plan
LIC is a trusted brand and many of us believe in taking insurance plans from LIC. One of the best term insurance plans that come from LIC is e-Term Term Insurance Plan. Here are the features of this plan.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 60 years
- Maximum maturity age is 75 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 10 years and 35 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 25 Lakhs. For non smokers, minimum sum assured is Rs 50 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- No Riders available in this plan
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 98%.
- All kinds of death including accidental deaths are covered under this plan except suicide during first year.
- Premium is approx Rs 15,622 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for Rs 1 Crore sum assured.
- I feel LIC eTerm Term Insurance Plan is one of the best term insurance plan in 2017 as it has brand value as well trusted by many people in India.
- You can Review LIC eTerm Insurance Plan here.
2) ICICI iProtect Smart Term Insurance Plan
Here are the key features of ICICI iProtect Smart Term Plan.
- Minimum Entry age is 20 Years and Maximum entry age is 65 years
- Maximum maturity age is 75 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 5 years and 40 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured – Based on minimum premium of Rs 3,600 per annum.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- There are riders like Waiver of Premium on Disability, Critical Illness Benefit, Death Benefit/Terminal Illness Benefit available in this plan.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 95%
- Premium is approx Rs 10,523 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for Rs 1 Crore sum assured.
- I feel ICICI iProtect Term plan is one of the good term insurance plans as it comes with several riders which are useful.
3) HDFC Click 2 Protect Plus Term Insurance Plan
Below are the major features of HDFC Click 2 Protect Plus Term plan.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 65 years
- Maximum maturity age is 70 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 10 years and 40 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 25 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- Extra Life Option, Income Option, Income Plus option and Accident Disability Riders available in this plan.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 95%
- Premium is approx Rs 10,378 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for Rs 1 Crore sum assured.
- HDFC Click 2 Protec Plus Term plan has several riders which make this as unique term insurance plan for 2017.
4) SBI Life eShield Term Insurance Plan
Here are the key features of eShield Term insurance Plan from SBI.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 60 years
- Maximum maturity age is 70 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 5 years and 30 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 20 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- Accident Death Benefit rider available in this term plan.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 93%
- Premium is approx Rs 13,443 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for 1 Crore sum assured.
5) Max Life Online Term Insurance Plan
Below are the major features of this term insurance plan from MaxLife.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 60 years
Maximum maturity age is 70 Years.- Policy tenure is between 10 years and 40 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 25 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – Rs 100 Crores.
- Comprehensive Accident Benefit Rider available in this plan.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 97% which is highest among all insurance companies.
- Premium is approx Rs 9,400 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for 1 Crore sum assured.
- Max Life Online Term Plan comes with unique features and low premiums, hence is one of the good term insurance plan for 2017
6) Aegon Life iTerm Insurance Plan
Below are the major features of this plan.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 65 years
- Maximum maturity age is 80 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 5 years and 62 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 25 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- Accidental Death Benefit Rider, Waiver of Premium Rider on Critical Illness, Women Critical Illness Riders available in this plan.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 95%
- Premium is approx Rs 6,636 per annum for a 30 year non-smoker for a 30 year policy for a sum assured of Rs 1 Crore
Also Read: Aegon Life iSpouse Term Insurance Plan – Is this a good plan for working couple?
7) TATA AIA Life Tem Insurance Plans
There are 4 variants of term insurance plans offered by TAT AIA Life. One of the good plans with TATA AIA Life Insurance is Samporna Raksha Term insurance plan. Below are the major features of this plan.
- Minimum Entry age is 18 Years and Maximum entry age is 70 years
- Maximum maturity age is 80 Years.
- Policy tenure is between 10 years and 40 years.
- Minimum Sum Assured is Rs 50 Lakhs.
- Maximum Sum Assured – No limit.
- Claim settlement ratio of FY 2015-16 is 97%.
- Accident Death and Dismemberment rider (optional) available.
- Rate benefits for customers opting for higher level of protection (Sum Assured of Rs 75 Lacs & above).
- Premium is approx Rs 8,000 per annum for a 30 year non smoker for a 30 year policy for a sum assured of Rs 1 Crore.
Conclusion: I have taken LIC Term insurance plan several years back. Couple of years back I have taken ICICI Term insurance plan and HDFC Life Click 2 Protect Plus for some more risk coverage. My advice to you would be, to consider term plans among top-5 indicated above. You can also split your insurance coverage of say Rs 50 Lakhs each in 2 policies to avoid any rejections in future of say in next 10 or 20 years. Term plans are best which comes with low premiums and high risk coverage. This should be your first step in financial planning.
Readers, have you taken term insurance plan from above insurance companies? What are your experiences?
If you enjoyed this article, share it with your friends and colleagues through Face book and Twitter.
Suresh
Top 7 Best Term Insurance Plans for 2017
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Hi I am 30 Years and want to go for Term Insurance. Non smoker and healthy,
which TERM PLAN would you suggest considering all the factors in year 2018
Hi Lalit, I am posting term plans article next week, pls wait
Hi, can you share your latest Term Plans link, also let me know which is better Term plan company to go….
Hi Amul, Check out this link which has best term plans in India for 2018. https://myinvestmentideas.com/2018/04/top-8-best-term-insurance-plans-in-india-in-2018-2019/
Hi Suresh,
Thank you this artical was of great help. I want to know for preexsting deseases wich cover will be the best and also is there pointers that i need to check before taking one.
If you could also share your suggested policies in this condition.
Thanks
Hi Vimal, some of the policies would still offer ther term plans with pre-existing diseases, but it would go through medical examination. Consider a good plan and proceed for medical examinatoin in case the insured has pre-existing disease
Hi Suresh,
Thank you so much for such a detail on Term Insurance,
If i take Two term Inurance policies of 50 lakh each, how'll that work? Will they both take the risk in the eventuality? or just one of them? will my family get 1 crore or 50 lakh? kindly help me understand.
Thank you, Nandish
Yes. In case of death of insured, both insurance companies would pay Rs 50 Lakhs each totalling to Rs 1 Crore.
Hi Suresh,
Aegon life if allowing one-time premium payment of its term insurance plan. Is it good to pay it at one shot? Apart from Aegon, are there any other companies that encourage one-time premium payment?
avoid single premium plays
Excellent Suresh,
I am planning to take Term one but not able to decide from past few months.
This article gives me some better idea, now i have few more questions came in my mind , could you please give some idea.
thanks in advance.
My questions
1. Two plans is an excellent idea as per me , can you suggest a better combo ?
2. Riders – can you suggest few riders and their advantages for term policies ? here i can say must to opt for..
3. And the best term/duration required to opt ?
This will help a lot of people like me.
God bless you dear.
Regards
Vinay
Hi , what us the reasons in where insurance companies reject the claim?
Dear Suresh,
Thank you for the detailed information on the term insurance plans.
i am looking for a good term insurance policy with maturity benifit.Can you please help with information.
Also what are the pros and cons of policies with out maturity benifit vs policies with maturity benifits.
Regards,
Surya Ch
Hi Surya, Use term insurance plans only for security for your family in your absense. Hence, don’t expect any returns from that. There are a few premium return insurance plans where they charge high premiums and pay your money back. Don’t even think such policies
Hi Suresh,
Thank You for timely help and clarification.
Regards,
Surya Ch
Hi Suresh . Thanks for the valuable info. I already have a BSL Term Insurance Plan that has been in force for the past 3 years. However owing to the low CSR coupled with the lackadaisical customer/agent service I was contemplating switching over to ICICI/HDFC for their high CSR. Much to my dismay, a LIC agent informed me that they are all sailing in the same boat and it makes sense to only take a LIC Term policy. Would request your advice if it makes sense to switch insurance companies at this juncture. Thanks.
Hi Malcom, I agree with you. However, no one can predict when actually our family is going to claim the money in our absense. Hence, I feel that one should not depend on 1 insurance company. Insurance company which is good today, may turn bad or worse tomorrow. Hence one should take atleast 2 term insurance plans. LIC eterm comes with high premium, hence generally people prefer on private insurance companies. I prefer HDFC and ICICI after LIC. You can review and take a call
Thanks Suresh. In this case should I still continue with Birla Sun Life, and whenever possible take another term insurance for an additional amount. Or should I just discontinue BSL and take a term insurance for a greater amount.
We may feel pain to discontinue existing plan. But my advice is take another plan from LIC/HDFC/ICICI and then discontinue BSL. When you want to add one more pick from these top 3 insurance companies later.
Should we Trust on Such Private Company ? is it Sure that They are Given 100% Gurantee, if not than what is securities of family ? they can Reject to find anything
Hi Amit, One of the key parameter you should check is settlement ratio. Means how many rejections company is doing and what is the %age. The lower it is, the higher the confidence level for an individual that his claim would be honored. Insurance companies like LIC, HDFC Life and ICICI Life Insurance has higher claim settlement ratio, hence are relatively better compared to others.
A friend of mine who is also an insurance advisor told me that i can not take term plan from 2 different companies …. is it true ???
Its wrong. I took term insurance from 3 insurance companies 🙂
is Aegon Term Plan plusgood ? how is your experiance about this company. should i go for it ?
Hello Suresh
First of all thanks for such a nice information.
My question to you is : if a person has taken multiple term insurance then in any unfortunate incident his/her family can claim for all term insurance or any 1 of them?
Nice
Go for monthly income as premium reduced and its good for your nominee.
Whether Monthly income plan is good or opt for lumpsum option
Whether Monthly income plan is good or opt for lumsum option
Go for monthly income as premium reduced and its good for your nominee.
Very detailed information. I had to take a break before completing the reading of this post, ha ha. But honestly saying this one of rarest and very helpful post what I have ever read. Though many finance-enthusiasts are always keen to any policy's terms & conditions whenever it comes to term insurance everybody less bothered about it because there is no return if you survive till the maturity period. So everybody hopes for the best and finally buy any random term insurance. But whoever wants to buy the best insurance they will definitely find it helpful.
Hi sir,I like ur blogs.my queries is whether premium will get affect due to gst in all above mentioned policy.will it increases or decreases.As we have decided to take term plan in LIC.my husband's age is 28 yrs.so for how many yrs should we take Policy .pls sir help me
TATA AIA Sampoorna Raksha Plan is good with good claim settlement ratio. Maturity age upto 80 years and a Brand of Tata to rely on. HDFC is bad very bad they never settle there calims easily and even i had to run alot for my NAV.
sir your claim has done or not by hdfc
Why there is a significant difference in premiums for lic vs ICICI & hdfc.. Like it's almost 15K vs 10K.. That too lic don't offer any riders, yet you have mentioned it to be the best and no 1..am I missing some key?
Its all about brand. Higher brand companies would offer policies with high premiums
Sir,
I try to deposit in postoffice monhly income -plan near 8 lacks rupees in 4 different accounts,but some body telling the benifit is taxable above 10000.rupees. this 10000 amount is our inrest amount correct, but that the amount is not exceed in month or year,in other words the 10000 income intrest is taxable is monthly or yearly 10000 rupees pleas explain.
thanks
Rajkumar
its more than 10000 interest accured or paid in a year
Life Insurance Corporation of India is going to launch its new plan Jeevan Umang (Table No: 845) is a non-linked whole life assurance plan which provides fixed yearly amount (8% of Sum Assured/Year) after completion of premium payment up to 100 year of age and on maturity lump sum amount on maturity (completion of 100 years) or death. This plan is similar to Jeevan Tarang (178) Plan which is closed for sale. Features and benefits of this plan have been explained here with example
Key Features
8% of SA per year as survival benefits
Suitable plan for pension
Whole Life Plan
Availability of Accidental benefit Rider, Term Rider and Critical Illness riders.
Paid premiums are exempted from income tax under 80C
Maturity amount is tax free under 10 (10D)
good to hear that Pramod
Hi Suresh
I am 37 yrs old and have taken I protect smart policy of Rs 1 cr for 30 yr term with a premium of Rs19350. Now I feel the premium is to high and is not worth to pay premium after retirement. the current policy is valid till I am 67 yrs old. I feel like discontinue the current policy and take a new one for 20yrs i.e vaild till I am 57 yrs old. I dont feel there is a need to hhave a term plan after retirement. Kindly suggest.
I have taken an online Term policy from Aegon life 4 years back for myself, and one from HDFC click2protect for my friend a year back. When i have requested some important queries , the HDFC has not yet provided clear replies , though i have asked many times thru mails.
Hi Srinivas, Bad to hear about you. Even I took HDFC click 2 Protect plan and was able to get all queries answered with 2-3 calls with them. You can make one more try
Hi, just wanna know that why PNB MetLife couldn't come in these top 7 pans… I am interested in it's term plan as it has an option to add spouse too… Pls share ur thought though I have already read your article on this product which u have posted separately.
Thanks
Nilesh
Its claim settlement ratio is 85% only, hence it is not figured in top 7 plans.
Whats your view on Birls sunlife?
Hi Suresh
Great Information. thankyou verymuch or your reguler posts. there lot usefull and unique information iam getting from your blog. Keep doing the good work. God BlessYou.
Thanks
-Naga-
Sir I (age 40) have taken termplan in PNB METLIFE for 75 +5 Lakhs & paying premium including critical coverage . Please guide me whether I continue this or change to other one.
Sir,
I am regularly following your comments,
Keep your service…
Thanks for your time..
Thank you Vignesh
Hello Suresh,
Appreciate and thank you for the article. A good eye opener on term insurance plans.
I have a question on the annual premium paid for each of these insurance plans. In comparing the first top 3 plans, I see a 50% difference in the annual premium paid for the LIC product, when compared with ICICI and HDFC Products, where the sum assured is almost the same.
Do you still think, the first spot should go for the LIC Plan, where the premium difference is huge and with no rider benefits and when CSR is not any more an important criteria to be considered.
Please correct my understanding.
Thanks in advance and do reply when you get a chance.
Ahmed, Thanks for your comments. Due to good brand name of LIC, it still charges high premium. Others are private insurance companies, hence to tap and grab the insurance share from LIC, top private insurance companies are offering at low premiums.
Good suggestion for common people
Thanks Kamal
Couple of points I found illogical:
1. Splitting of policies.
2. Claims settlement Ratio
1. Writer should have focused on asking customers to disclose everything rather than creating a fear that claims would be rejected and provided a solution of splitting policies.
2. CSR comparison should be some to Apple. Better or should be only for online plans rather than moving all the plans. Tenure of company, product type and time within which claim was submitted are imp factors.
– For High vintage companies, max claims would be non early, so less investigation, better CSR
– If product is endowment or ULIP, less investigation is required as these are less risky products. So CSR only for online plans should be compared
Thanks for your valuable inputs Santosh. 1) We don’t have any proofs that claims are rejected only for cases where individuals has not furnished the details. insurance companies can reject claim for variety of reasons 2) Claim settlement ratio is for the company term insurance plans and not just for online term plans. 3) People have become clever and not interested in ULIPs any more. Your point may be invalid here.
Dear Sureshji,
I am already buy Max Life Term (It is good), I think you were already Explain.
Sir plz write article following topic also.
1. How to Select Stock Short (4 to 6 Month) & Long Term (more than 1 year)
2. What is Perfect Portfolio (MF % ?, Stocks ?, gold ?, FD ? etc)
Regards
Ajit
Good to hear that Ajit. Sure, i would write that, but pls post on suggest a topic so that i would not miss it.
Hi Suresh,
Could you suggest some best health insurance plans?
Thanks & stay Blessed.
Regards,
Ganesh
Hi Ganesh, Here are some of the good health insurance plans for 2017. 1) Apollo Optima restore 2) Religare heart beat. I am planning to post comprehensive list next week, you can wait if you wish to.
well explained sir
Thank you Tirupati. Pls give me FB like 🙂
You have not include the latest HDFC Life Click2Protect 3D Plus term plan launched in the last week of April. Plus most insurers would have disclosed their claims ratios for FY’17.
Hi Vishal, This is a new term insurance plan, we need to get into more details before I suggest. FY17 claim ratios would be announced by IRDA by Dec-17 or Jan-2018 (as per practice), hence took FY16 CSRs which are published few months back.
Aegon is no longer Aegon Religare. Its just Aegon in association with Benett & Coleman.
Hi Pradeep, Thanks for the valuable input. I just corrected the name. Pls send your postal address to suresh@myinvestmentideas.com, i would send small token of appreciation. Thank you once again
Great article Suresh ji.
When you say there is no limit on maximum premium, what does that mean?
I meant maximum sum assured
Akshay, You can take any sum assured between minimum sum assured and max sum assured. Some insurance companies put max sum assured to Rs 100 Crores. However, some companies put open i.e. you can consider any amount e.g. Rs 1,000 Crores of Rs 10,000 Croress 🙂
You didn’t include nor mentioned about other term insurance policies like Canara HSBC Oriental insurance, IDBI flexISurance.. Both are comparably better with nominal premium and rider benefits…
Hi Ravi, Thanks for your comment. These 2 companies are formed less than 10 years back. If you see I pickedup one parameter about operating history. I pickedup companies which has more than 12 years of operations. Hence these are not picked up as part of good term insurance plans which I indicated in our article