Term insurance plan is necessity for an individual who has dependents or a family.
It is a proven fact that a term plan offers the most ‘value for money’ proposition. It is the basic form of life insurance where a fixed sum assured is paid on the death of the policyholder. In case of survival of policy term, the insured gets nothing in return. The premium on term plans depends on three factors: age, term of the policy and the sum assured you choose.
Now as you know what term insurance means. Let us look at the claim settlement ratio of term insurance providers according to IRDA in the year 2014. We will update the table according to the latest data available:
| Company | Total Claim Received (Pending from last year+This year) | Claim Paid | Claim Settled Period | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nos. | % | Within 30 days | 31-90 days | More than 90 days | ||
| LIC | 7,50,576 | 7,33,545 | 97.73% | 6,20,881 | 60,040 | 52,624.00 |
| ICICI Prudential Life | 14,948 | 14,393 | 96.29% | 13,736 | 362 | 295.00 |
| HDFC Life | 6,253 | 5,988 | 95.76% | 5,338 | 602 | 48.00 |
| SBI Life | 13,426 | 12,676 | 94.41% | 11,217 | 1,379 | 80.00 |
| Max Life | 9,051 | 8,531 | 94.25% | 7,119 | 1,252 | 160.00 |
| Kotak Life | 3,089 | 2,843 | 92.04% | 2,326 | 398 | 119.00 |
| Star Union Dai-lchi | 738 | 662 | 89.70% | 246 | 231 | 185.00 |
| Bharti Axa | 1,046 | 936 | 89.48% | 654 | 213 | 69.00 |
| Bajaj Allianz | 27,282 | 2,4192 | 88.67% | 1,7635 | 5,175 | 1,382.00 |
| Canara HSBC | 597 | 528 | 88.44% | 217 | 187 | 124.00 |
| Aviva | 2,433 | 2,134 | 87.71% | 1,825 | 283 | 26.00 |
| Reliance Life | 21,412 | 18,511 | 86.45% | 13,221 | 4,731 | 559.00 |
| Sahara Life | 955 | 809 | 84.71% | 270 | 299 | 240.00 |
| Tata AIA | 4,884 | 4,125 | 84.46% | 3,143 | 706 | 276.00 |
| ING Life | 3,312 | 2,780 | 83.94% | 2,241 | 292 | 247.00 |
| PNB Metlife | 2,405 | 2,017 | 83.87% | 1,747 | 204 | 66.00 |
| Birla Sunlife | 9,871 | 8,149 | 82.55% | 6,320 | 1,457 | 372.00 |
| IDBI Federal | 687 | 550 | 80.06% | 550 | 0 | 0.00 |
| India First | 916 | 654 | 71.40% | 635 | 19 | 0.00 |
| Future Generali | 1,941 | 1,369 | 70.53% | 837 | 434 | 98.00 |
| Shriram Life | 1,602 | 1,079 | 67.35% | 648 | 316 | 115.00 |
| Aegon Religare | 422 | 282 | 66.82% | 248 | 34 | 0.00 |
| Edelweiss Tokio | 22 | 10 | 45.45% | 4 | 6 | 0.00 |
| DLF Pramerica | 614 | 166 | 27.04% | 5 | 15 | 146.00 |
This list was prepared after IRDA announced the changes in its regulations which happened in January, 2014. Post the changes some of the insurers did not come up with their Term plans and hence have not been shown in the list.
Claim settlement Ratio of Life Insurance Companies
While looking for a term insurance policy, one of the major points to consider is claim settlement ratio.Claim Settlement ratio of a company informs you about the number of policies that are settled by paying back the claims in case of death.
Claim settlement ratio has been chosen to rate the insurance companies because it is the only ratio which could be of use to customers while they select the policy. High claim settlement ratio shows the insurer is reliable and could be trusted for taking term plans whereas the low ratio indicates that the credibility of insurer is less and therefore they won’t attract many customers because of their inability to settle claims.
Looking at the Claim settlement ratios of various companies it is clear that LIC, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Life, SBI Life and Kotak have fared well in terms of settling their claims and hence stand a good chance of gaining customers’ attention for a Term Insurance Plan.
List of Term Plans/Quotes for 30-Year, Male/Non-Smoker, Age 30, with Annual Premium Payment Details
| No. | Term Plans Name | Premium | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reliance Online Term | 7,319 | Online |
| 2 | Bharti AXA eProtect | 8,202 | Online |
| 3 | AEGON Religare iTerm | 8,203 | Online |
| 4 | Aviva i-Life | 8,297 | Online |
| 5 | MAX Life Online Term Option I | 8,315 | Online |
| 6 | HDFC Life Click2Protect | 11,911 | Online |
| 7 | Edelweiss Tokio Life – Protection | 12,922 | Online |
| 8 | SBI Life eShield | 13,135 | Online |
| 9 | ICICI Prudential ICare II | 16,739 | Online |
| 10 | LIC Amulya Jeevan | 26,180 | Offline |
| 11 | PNB MetProtect | 13,034 | Offline |
| 12 | Tata AIA Life Insurance Maha Raksha Supreme | 14,606 | Offline |
LIC performs the best in this regard because the company being a core Life Insurer has settled the maximum claims for Term plans and has rubbished the “Do not take Term insurance from a Life Insurer” Norm.
It is a suggestion to all the customers that they make their choices wisely depending on the past performance of the insurers evaluated through their Claim Settlement ratios. Besides that age, health and income of the individual are of ample importance because depending on that only would the insurer decide on the sum insured, premium, term etc. Rest, the provided list is good enough to choose the best term insurance plan in 2015.