Published in Mint on 3rd May 2018 The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has got a new chairman: Subhash Chandra Khuntia, a former chief secretary to the Karnataka government. He will succeed T.S. Vijayan, who retired in February. Khuntia has his work cut out both in the life and the non-life space. […]
Articles Tagged: Life Insurance
Sum assured of riders and extent of cover tends to be less than in standalone policies
Published in Mint on 8th April 2018. Written by Abhishek Bondia. Should I buy a term plan with riders, or should I buy all the insurance separately? Buying a combined product is convenient. If I take different covers, it means more work. —Rahul Sethi A life insurance policy offers several riders such as critical illness, […]
Standard term insurance covers only death, but some also provide terminal illness benefit
Published in Mint on 12th March 2018. Written by Abhishek Bondia My father is 58 years old. He had term insurance with a policy term till 60 years of age. Last year he suffered an accident and has been hospitalized since then. The doctors are now saying that he is brain dead. Can we file […]
It is not recommended to buy an annuity plan that starts payout after the age of 90
Published in Mint on 26th February 2018. Written by Abhishek Bondia I am 55 years old. One of my nieces has joined an insurance company as an agent. She is proposing that I take a life insurance policy that will give me a regular income after I reach 90 years of age. After my death, […]
Have life insurance of around 10 times your annual income
Published in Mint on 23rd February, 2016, Written by Abhishek Bondia I am 26 years old and had taken LIC Jeevan Anand Policy (149) in 2015. I pay a premium of Rs.48,018 for a sum assured of Rs.10 lakh. I had planned to surrender the policy after four premium payments but the agent suggested to […]
New regulator should move away from micro-managing
Published in Mint on 19th February, 2018. Mint’s Insurance Conclave 2018 in Mumbai, held on 13 February, saw a discussion on IPOs and changing market trends in the life insurance industry. The panelists included Amitabh Chaudhry, managing director and chief executive officer, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd; Arijit Basu, managing director and chief executive […]
Reducing costs in traditional insurance plans
Published in Mint on 5th February, 2018. While most insurers favour status quo, will the lowering of surrender charges in traditional insurance cum investment plans benefit the policyholders? We ask the experts. R.M. Vishakha, MD and CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd Unit linked insurance plans (Ulips) are market-linked, and investor bear the risk of […]
Budget 2018: Rs5 lakh Modicare for the poor
Published in Mint on 2nd February, 2018. The budget 2018 focussed on senior citizens and people from the lower-income group. While increasing the tax deduction should encourage individuals to buy more health insurance, the flagship National Health Protection Scheme that the budget 2018 announced will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families or about […]
Traditional money-back policies return money during the policy tenure
Published in Mint on 29th January, 2018. Written by Abhishek Bondia. I have accumulated about four traditional life insurance policies. I want to reduce these so that the sum assured from these policies is about Rs50 lakh. How should I decide which policies to do away with? —Girish Nair Traditional life insurance policies typically have […]
Buy health insurance early, get price benefit
Published in Mint on Jan 27 2016 The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) released a draft exposure on health insurance regulations on 19 January 2016, seeking to make minor changes to the existing health insurance regulations of 2013. The draft is a result of the recommendations of the insurance committee that was […]