INSURANCE


HDFC Life online term life insurance has premium rates 50% of its offline version, to make it competitive in the market. The online term life insurance market is heating up with more players entering the fray and existing ones planning to take the pricing further down. Is it a race to the...

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After ULIPs fell from grace, traditional plans are selling fast. In another first from Moneylife, Raj Pradhan exposes the terrible returns from traditional plans that customers seem oblivious to My cousin Roshan was facing a dilemma. He wanted to buy term life insurance; but his father, my...

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IRDA had been in news this year with a slew of changes affecting both the life and general insurance industry. It’s been a tumultuous ride for both—the insurer and insured The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) finally launched mediclaim portability in October this year...

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The claims settlement ratio for new entrants like IndiaFirst and SUD Life has improved and beating even some players who are in life insurance business for over a decade. As expected, IRDA data shows LIC continues to reign The claims settlement ratio for new entrants like IndiaFirst and Star...

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IRDA wants LIC to expedite claims settlement LIC has been reprimanded for delay in settlement of death and maturity claims. It found that LIC had taken more than six months to repudiate the group insurance death claims in respect of 24 cases and complete the investigations in respect of 263...

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Moneylife Digital Team 28 December 2011
Are customers lazy or unaware or both? Mediclaim portability commenced in October 2011. The response from the insured has been lukewarm so far. As expected, despite newspaper advertisements from IRDA extolling the ease and benefits of mediclaim portability, the insured are not biting the bait...

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Moneylife Digital Team 28 December 2011
Many choices—all at a price Bharti AXA Life Power Kid Insurance Plan—a child ULIP— offers numerous benefits which can actually be confusing for the average customer. Moreover, the benefits come at a price. The insurance company makes the insured pay for any risk cover they undertake or...

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Moneylife Digital Team 28 December 2011
These are traditonal plans for different age groups Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance has launched two traditional (non-unit linked) child plans—Kotak Child Edu Plan and Kotak Child Future Plan. In case of death of the insured, the plans pay out 200% of the sum assured (SA) and future...

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Raj Pradhan  and   Rushab Dhandokia 22 December 2011
The cost of opting for arbitration proceedings could be as high as Rs10 lakh to Rs15 lakh, excluding lawyers’ fees. Therefore it is advisable to go in for arbitration only in cases where the claim amount is significantly higher than the cost. Since an insurance policy is a contract, the...

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Raj Pradhan  and   Rushab Dhandokia 19 December 2011
According to advocate Singh, The policyholder should be educated not to accept the discharge voucher in the first instance itself if he is not satisfied with the amount specified in it or which is being offered. At this instance only he should invoke the arbitration clause to which the company...

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Raj Pradhan  and   Rushab Dhandokia 15 December 2011
Nagesh Kini, who was auditor of general insurance companies, believes that the Insurance Ombudsman is a great option due to low cost, simple procedures and speedy redressal, even though it may take longer than mandated Nagesh Kini has been an auditor of general insurance companies and General...

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ING Life retirement planning advertisement in ET Wealth made misleading assumptions. ING responded to our article. Here are ING’s faulty responses defending the flawed retirement path it advertised. Is IRDA listening? Upton Sinclair has written: “It is difficult to get a man to understand...

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ING Life retirement planning advertisement in ET Wealth makes misleading assumptions. It wants you to retire on your terms, but with ING’s assumptions. What can be expected from agents selling the plan? May be even more mis-selling? ING Life has issued a full-page advertisement in ET Wealth...

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The main attraction of any insurance product is tax benefits at entry and exit. This is possible as long as there is minimum insurance component. Does your insurance policy comply with the rules? The main attraction of any insurance product is tax benefits at entry under Section 80 C and at...

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IRDA is reviewing products with low or reducing insurance as it intends to enforce a certain premium-to-sum-assured ratio. Approval of Bajaj Allianz Guaranteed Maturity plan seems to be direct breach of this stated intension The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had stated...

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Rajesh Sud, CEO and managing director,  Max New York Life Insurance, ML: Any plans to offer a low-premium online term plan? RS: Online term insurance has become a commodity. According to what I hear, renewals are lower for these policies. Customers easily move from one insurer to...

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Moneylife Digital Team 08 December 2011
Traditional endowment plan with annual income benefits Future Generali Secure Income plan is a traditional endowment plus money-back plan which can be made into a whole life plan. The ticket size begins with Rs10,000. The plan offers flexibility to choose the premium payment term (PPT) as...

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Moneylife Digital Team 08 December 2011
Monthly admin charge of 0.5% makes it expensive The product brochure of Bharti Axa Life Future Invest highlights zero allocation charges on the first page. It also mentions that the premium paid by the customer is invested in his chosen funds as allocation charges are NIL. Is it really...

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Mediclaim portability started in October 2011. While the response has been lukewarm, there are early trends that poaching of young and healthy customers will be the strategy. Who is winning on that score? As expected, despite newspaper advertisements from the Insurance Regulatory and...

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It is a strange choice considering that term life is the best insurance. The ULIP comparator can be expanded by IRDA to bring in more value. This is launched just after stringent guidelines for web aggregators which will drive them out of business The Insurance Regulatory and Development...

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