Insurance, decoded
What your insurance policy actually pays. And when.
A policy document is a list of promises with conditions attached. The seller reads you the promises; the conditions are where claims die — and where you get cheated. This page translates every major policy type into the only questions that matter: amount paid if you die in year 3, if you die in an accident, if you are diagnosed with cancer, if you hid an illness, if you miss a premium, if you need cash in an emergency — and what the seller earns the moment you sign.
One rule sits under everything here: insurance is the product you buy hoping never to use. Anything promising your money back is an investment wearing insurance clothes — judge it as an investment, by its annual return, and it usually loses. The industry's own persistency data shows roughly half of life-insurance buyers abandon their policies within five years — evidence of how much of it is sold, not bought.
Your policy, this year
Enter the numbers from your policy schedule and get the answers in rupees — for this year, 2026. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type leaves this page.
This is policy year 4 of your endowment / money-back.
| IF YOU DIE THIS YEAR, YOUR FAMILY GETS | ₹10,00,000 + accrued bonuses (get the bonus figure from the insurer in writing) |
| IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT THIS YEAR | Same as any death — you have no accidental-death rider entered ⚠ An accidental-death rider typically costs little; check whether yours exists in the policy schedule before assuming. |
| IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER THIS YEAR | ₹0 from this policy — no critical-illness rider entered ⚠ Health insurance (hospital bills) and CI (lump sum on diagnosis) are separate products — this policy is neither unless a rider says so. |
| IF YOU STOP PAYING TODAY, YOU GET BACK | Surrender: a haircut on the ₹2,00,000 paid so far — demand both GSV and SSV in writing. OR go 'paid-up' instead: stop paying, keep a shrunken cover of ₹2,66,667 (sum assured × 4/15 premiums paid). ⚠ Paid-up is often the least-bad exit from a mis-sold savings policy — you stop feeding it without surrendering at a loss. Run both numbers before deciding. |
| IF YOU SURVIVE TO 2042, YOU GET | ₹10,00,000 + accumulated bonuses. Against total premiums of ₹7,50,000, typical plans land near a 4–5.5% annual return — compute the XIRR on YOUR illustration before believing better. |
| WHAT THIS POLICY COSTS YOU IN TOTAL | ₹7,50,000 over 15 years (₹2,00,000 paid so far) |
Estimates use the standard formulas (paid-up = sum assured × premiums paid ÷ premiums payable; ULIP death benefit = higher of sum assured and fund value). Your policy schedule overrides everything here — surrender values in particular must come from the insurer in writing.
01
Term life insurance
You pay a small premium every year. If you die during the term, your family gets the full sum assured. If you survive, you get nothing back — that is the design, not a defect.
What it costs: Roughly ₹10,000–₹15,000 a year buys ₹1 crore of cover for a healthy 30-year-old non-smoker, term to age 60 — and since 22 Sep 2025 individual premiums carry no GST (illustrative market range — get a live quote).
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Full sum assured (e.g. ₹1 crore) — unless death is by suicide within 12 months of the policy start or revival, in which case the nominee gets at least 80% of premiums paid, not the sum assured. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Full sum assured. After 3 policy years, s.45 of the Insurance Act 1938 bars the insurer from questioning the policy 'on any ground whatsoever' — though whether proven fraud survives the 3-year bar is judicially unsettled, so honest disclosure at purchase remains your family's real protection. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Full sum assured; plus the accidental-death rider amount if (and only if) you bought that rider. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 from the base policy — term insurance pays only on death. A critical-illness rider, if bought, pays its own rider sum assured on diagnosis of a listed illness, usually after a survival period. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0. Term life never pays for hospitalisation — that is health insurance's job. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | ₹0 (pure term). A 'return of premium' variant refunds your premiums — and charges roughly 1.5–2× the premium for that refund; the extra money almost always earns more in a fixed deposit. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | ₹0 for pure term — there is nothing to surrender. You simply stop being covered after the 30-day grace period. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | You get a grace period — typically 30 days (15 for monthly mode) — with full cover intact. Die inside the grace period and the claim is still paid, minus the unpaid premium. Miss the grace period too and the policy lapses. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | ₹0. A lapsed term policy pays nothing. You can usually revive within 5 years by paying arrears with interest and fresh health declarations — and revival restarts the 12-month suicide-clause clock. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | For the first 3 policy years the insurer can dig through your proposal form and void the claim over a misstatement (s.45, Insurance Act 1938). This is why you never let an agent fill your form — every blank they guess wrong is a rejection reason your family inherits. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | ₹0. Term insurance pays only on death — a paralysing accident that ends your income pays nothing. That gap is covered only by a disability rider or a separate personal accident policy. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0. A term policy has no surrender value and no loan value. That is precisely why it is cheap. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | A few hundred to a couple of thousand rupees a year — which is exactly why nobody ever calls you to sell one. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Demand the rejection in writing. Then escalate in order: the insurer's grievance officer → the Bima Bharosa portal (IRDAI) → the Insurance Ombudsman — free, no lawyer needed, claims up to ₹50 lakh, complaint within 1 year of rejection. The award binds the insurer if you accept it. |
Watch for: Premium must stay level for the whole term — check the schedule. Disclose smoking, illness, and occupation truthfully: within the first 3 years a proven misstatement can void the claim.
Our reading: The one life-insurance product that is actually insurance. Buy cover of roughly 10–15× annual income as pure term; skip return-of-premium variants.
02
Endowment / money-back (traditional 'savings' plans)
A bundle: a small amount of life cover plus a low-yield savings scheme. Sold as 'insurance + savings'; in practice it does both jobs badly — the cover is too small to protect your family and the return is usually below inflation.
What it costs: To get ₹1 crore of cover from an endowment plan you would typically pay several lakhs a year — the same cover a term plan gives for ₹10–15k.
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Sum assured plus bonuses accrued so far (subject to the same 12-month suicide clause). The sum assured is usually 10–20× annual premium — far below what your family needs. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Sum assured plus accrued bonuses. s.45's 3-year incontestability applies here too. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Same as any death, plus rider amount if bought. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 on diagnosis from the base plan. Illness only matters if it kills you. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | Sum assured plus accumulated bonuses. Run the XIRR on the actual cash flows: typical traditional plans land near 4–5.5% a year — below most fixed deposits, locked for 15–25 years. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | The surrender value — a fraction of what you paid. Under the IRDAI (Insurance Products) Regulations 2024 (effective 1 Oct 2024), policies acquire a special surrender value after the first full year's premium; the guaranteed floor in early years is still a percentage of premiums paid, not the full amount. Check the exact table in YOUR policy schedule. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | 30-day grace period (15 for monthly mode). After that, if you have paid the minimum number of years, the policy becomes 'paid-up': it continues at a shrunken sum assured — sum assured × premiums paid ÷ premiums payable — and future bonuses generally stop. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | Only the paid-up (shrunken) sum assured, if the policy acquired one. If it lapsed before that, ₹0 — everything you paid is gone. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Same s.45 rule: 3 years of exposure to your proposal form. In practice endowment claims are contested less — because the amounts are small. That is not a feature. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | ₹0 unless you bought a disability rider. The 'savings' portion doesn't unlock either — you'd have to surrender or borrow it at interest. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | A policy loan — typically up to 80–90% of the SURRENDER value (not what you paid), at interest. Read that again: you pay the insurer interest to borrow your own money. Or surrender outright and eat the haircut. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | This is the product commissions were built for: first-year commission on traditional plans can approach a third of your first-year premium, plus renewal commission every year after. It is the most-pitched product in India for the seller's reasons, not yours. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Same ladder: written rejection → insurer grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Insurance Ombudsman (free, up to ₹50 lakh, within 1 year). For maturity/surrender disputes — wrong bonus, wrong surrender value — the same route works; bring your benefit illustration. |
Watch for: 'Bonus' is not interest: a simple reversionary bonus of ₹40 per ₹1,000 sum assured is 4% of the SUM ASSURED, not of your money, and it is paid only at death or maturity without compounding in your hands.
Our reading: As insurance: too small. As investment: opaque and low-yield. If you hold one, do the paid-up vs surrender vs continue math before acting — surrendering late in the term can destroy accrued value.
03
ULIP (unit-linked insurance plan)
A mutual fund wrapped in an insurance contract. Your premium is split: charges are deducted, a thin mortality cover is bought, and the rest buys market-linked units. Sold as 'market returns with insurance free' — the charges and the lock-in are the fine print.
What it costs: Any premium size; life cover is typically only 10× annual premium (the minimum for the tax exemption).
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Higher of the sum assured or the fund value (most current ULIPs). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Higher of sum assured or fund value. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Same as any death, plus rider if bought. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 from the base plan unless a CI rider was attached. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | The fund value — whatever your chosen funds earned, minus premium-allocation, policy-administration, fund-management, and mortality charges deducted every year. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | Your units move to a 'discontinued policy fund' earning roughly savings-account returns, and you receive the balance only after the 5-year lock-in ends — not when you stop. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | Within the first 5 years: after the grace period your money is shunted to the discontinued-policy fund (savings-account-level returns, minus a discontinuance charge) and your market exposure and life cover both end. After year 5: the policy can usually continue as reduced paid-up. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | During discontinuance your family gets only the discontinued-fund balance — the life cover died with the premiums. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Same s.45 exposure for 3 years on the insurance component. The fund value is yours regardless; it is the sum-assured layer they contest. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | ₹0 unless a rider was attached. Your own fund value is still locked behind the 5-year wall. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0 before the 5-year lock-in ends — no withdrawals, no loans in most products. After year 5, partial withdrawals are allowed within limits. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | Less than traditional plans since the 2010 charge caps — but the front-loaded premium-allocation charge still comes out of YOUR money in the early years. Ask what percentage of your first premium actually buys units. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Same ladder — grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Ombudsman. Fund-value disputes (wrong NAV date, wrong charges) go the same route; the NAV date rules are in your policy wording. |
Watch for: Premiums above ₹2.5 lakh a year (policies issued on or after 1 Feb 2021): maturity proceeds lose the s.10(10D) exemption and are taxed as capital gains under s.45(1B). Death benefit stays tax-free.
Our reading: If you want market returns, a direct mutual fund is cheaper and liquid. If you want insurance, term is 10× cheaper. The bundle serves the seller.
04
Health insurance (hospitalisation / indemnity)
Reimburses actual hospital bills up to the sum insured, every year, for premiums that rise with age. The one policy nearly every Indian household should hold — and the one with the most fine print.
What it costs: ₹15,000–₹30,000 a year for a ₹10–25 lakh family floater for a young family (illustrative; city, age, and history move this a lot).
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | ₹0 — health insurance pays hospitals, not survivors. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | ₹0 for death itself; the hospitalisation before death is payable. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | Actual treatment costs up to the sum insured — but only after the initial 30-day waiting period (accidents excepted), and only if cancer is not traced to a pre-existing condition still inside the PED waiting period (maximum 36 months under the IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance, May 2024). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | Actual admissible bill up to sum insured, minus room-rent-cap proportionate deductions, consumables, and anything in the exclusion list. Cashless if the hospital is in-network; reimbursement otherwise. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | ₹0 — and that is a good year. Some policies pay a no-claim bonus by increasing next year's sum insured. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | ₹0 — cover simply lapses after the grace period, and you lose your accumulated waiting-period credit and no-claim bonus. Porting to another insurer preserves waiting-period credit; lapsing destroys it. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | A 30-day grace period on renewal (check yours). Miss it and the real loss isn't the premium — it's CONTINUITY: your PED waiting periods and the 60-month moratorium clock restart from zero, as if you were a brand-new customer. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | Health insurance doesn't pay on death anyway — but any hospitalisation after lapse is fully out of your pocket, at exactly the age when a fresh policy is costlier and your old conditions are now 'pre-existing'. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Non-disclosure is the #1 reason health claims die. For the first 60 months of continuous cover the insurer can reject a claim over it; after the 60-month moratorium, only proven fraud can be used against you. Declare everything — diabetes, BP, that one hospitalization in 2019 — everything. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | Pays hospital bills only. It never replaces the income you lose while you can't work — that is what personal-accident and CI covers are for. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0. An indemnity policy has no cash value — it is a shield, not a store. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | A cut of your premium every single year you renew — which is why renewal reminders arrive more reliably than claim support. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | First: a CASHLESS denial is not a claim denial — pay, collect every document, and file for reimbursement. Then the ladder: insurer grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Insurance Ombudsman (free, up to ₹50 lakh). Health claim rejections rose 19% in FY24 — insurers count on you not fighting. Fight. |
Watch for: The Customer Information Sheet (CIS) — mandatory since 1 Jan 2024 — is the insurer's own one-page brutal summary: sum insured, exclusions, waiting periods, sub-limits, claim process. Demand it, read it. After 60 months of continuous cover (the moratorium), no claim can be contested except for proven fraud.
Our reading: Buy it before you need it — waiting periods mean the best day to buy was yesterday. Individual/floater cover of at least ₹10–25 lakh plus a super top-up; do not rely on the employer policy that dies with your job.
05
Critical illness (benefit) policy / rider
Pays a fixed lump sum on DIAGNOSIS of a listed illness — regardless of your actual bills. The catch is the list, the definitions, and the survival period.
What it costs: A ₹25–50 lakh CI rider on a term plan costs a few thousand a year at young ages (illustrative).
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | ₹0 from the CI benefit itself (a rider pays nothing if you die before diagnosis + survival period; the base term cover pays). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Same as year 1. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | ₹0 from CI; base policy / accident rider pays. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | The full CI sum assured as a lump sum — IF the cancer meets the policy's definition (many policies pay nothing or a small percentage for early-stage / carcinoma-in-situ), the diagnosis falls after the initial 90-day waiting period, and you survive the survival period (commonly 14–30 days from diagnosis). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0 unless a listed illness is diagnosed — CI is not a hospital bill product. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | ₹0 — benefit riders carry no surrender value. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | A rider lives and dies with its base policy — same grace period; if the base lapses, the CI cover goes with it. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | ₹0. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Family history and pre-existing conditions are exactly what CI underwriting probes. Hide a parent's cardiac history and the diagnosis-day dispute writes itself. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | Only if the disability flows from a LISTED illness meeting the policy's exact definition. Accident-caused disability is not a critical illness — that is the personal-accident policy's job. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | Modest — which is why riders are rarely pitched. Riders get bought by informed buyers, not sold by agents. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | CI disputes are almost always about DEFINITIONS — 'cancer of specified severity', 'myocardial infarction with specified markers'. Get your treating doctor's documentation to address the policy wording clause by clause, then run the same ladder: grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Ombudsman. |
Watch for: Read the illness definitions, not the illness count. '64 illnesses covered' with strict definitions can pay less often than 20 broadly-defined ones. Check: early-stage cancer treatment, angioplasty (often capped), whether the rider terminates after one claim — and whether the rider is ACCELERATED (its payout is deducted from your death benefit) or ADDITIONAL (paid on top).
Our reading: Useful as income replacement during a major illness, layered on top of health insurance — never instead of it.
06
Personal accident policy
Pays only if an accident causes death or disability. Cheap because accidents are rarer than sellers imply — but it is the only product that pays meaningfully for disability, which term life ignores entirely.
What it costs: Roughly ₹1,000–₹2,000 a year per ₹1 crore of accidental-death cover (illustrative).
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Full sum assured — but only if death is caused by an accident. Death by illness: ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Same — cause of death is everything. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Full sum assured. Read the exclusions: adventure sports, driving under influence, and sometimes two-wheeler accidents above an engine size. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 — illness is entirely outside scope. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0 for illness; some policies add small accident-hospitalisation or weekly-benefit riders. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | ₹0 — annual product, no surrender value. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | It's an annual policy — miss the renewal and cover simply ends. Little continuity value is lost (no waiting periods to speak of), but an uncovered month is an uncovered month. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | ₹0. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Illness matters less here; OCCUPATION is the landmine. Declare your real job and habits — a 'office worker' declaration with a delivery-riding side gig is a rejection waiting for an accident. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | This is the one row where this product shines: permanent total disability typically pays 100% of sum assured; permanent partial disability pays per a body-part table (a lost limb = a defined %); many policies add a weekly income benefit for temporary disability. Compare THESE tables between policies, not the death number. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | Almost nothing — a ₹1,500 policy pays the seller pocket change, which is why you have never been pitched the one cover that pays when you survive but can't work. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Disputes centre on CAUSE — accident vs illness, and alcohol/adventure-sport exclusions. FIR, post-mortem report, and hospital records decide it; file them all, then the standard ladder: grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Ombudsman. |
Watch for: Permanent total disability (PTD) and permanent partial disability (PPD) percentages are the real value — a lost limb pays a defined % of sum assured. Compare those tables, not just the death number.
Our reading: Worth holding for the disability cover, which nothing else provides. Do not let it substitute for term life — most deaths are not accidents.
07
Whole life / guaranteed-income plans
Endowment economics stretched to age 99–100, or 'guaranteed income' plans that return your money as a long annuity-like stream. The word 'guaranteed' refers to certainty, not adequacy — the guaranteed rate is typically 4–6% locked for decades.
What it costs: Any premium; illustrations show large absolute numbers over 30–60 years that compound to modest annual rates.
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Sum assured plus accrued bonuses/guaranteed additions (12-month suicide clause applies). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | Sum assured plus accruals; s.45 incontestability after 3 years. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Same as any death, plus rider if bought. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 on diagnosis from the base plan. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | The guaranteed stream or maturity value as per schedule. Always convert the illustration to XIRR before signing — sellers quote absolute rupees over 40 years precisely because the annual rate looks unimpressive. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | Surrender value per the policy's GSV/SSV table — a haircut on premiums paid in early years, same mechanics as endowment. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | Same as endowment: grace period, then paid-up at a shrunken sum assured if the minimum years were paid, else lapse. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | Paid-up sum assured if acquired; otherwise ₹0. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Same s.45 rule — 3 years of proposal-form exposure. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | ₹0 unless a rider was bought. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | A policy loan against surrender value, at interest — same borrow-your-own-money mechanics as endowment. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | Same heavy first-year-commission family as endowment — long premium terms mean long commission streams. 'Income for you' plans are also income plans for the seller. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Same ladder: grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Insurance Ombudsman (free, up to ₹50 lakh, within 1 year). |
Watch for: Illustrations show two scenarios (4% and 8% gross) by IRDAI mandate — the guaranteed column is the only promise. 'Pay for 10, get income for 30' is a structured product; demand the XIRR.
Our reading: Judge it purely as a fixed-income investment against government bonds of the same tenor. It usually loses after charges — and the embedded life cover is too small to change that verdict.
08
Credit life / loan-cover insurance
Single-premium cover bundled into a home/personal loan, often added at disbursal with minimal explanation and financed inside the loan itself. It pays the LENDER your outstanding loan balance if you die.
What it costs: A single premium of tens of thousands to lakhs, added to the loan principal — so you pay interest on the premium too.
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 1 | Outstanding loan balance — paid to the bank, not your family (the bank is beneficiary under the assignment). |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN YEAR 3 | The (reducing) outstanding balance to the bank. A level term plan of the same size would have paid your family the full original amount. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT | Same — outstanding balance to the lender. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER | ₹0 unless a CI variant was bundled — check what was actually sold. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU ARE HOSPITALISED | ₹0. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU SURVIVE THE FULL TERM | ₹0 — and the premium plus interest on it is gone. |
| AMOUNT YOU GET BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING AFTER YEAR 3 | If you foreclose or transfer the loan, a proportionate refund of premium may be due — most borrowers never claim it. Check the certificate of insurance. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MISS A PREMIUM BY A MONTH | Usually nothing to miss — it's a single premium, financed INTO your loan at disbursal. You're paying EMI interest on the insurance premium for the loan's whole tenure. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF YOU DIE AFTER THE POLICY LAPSED | Single-premium cover generally stays in force for the loan tenure. But restructure or top-up the loan and the cover may no longer match the outstanding — check the certificate after any loan change. |
| WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HID AN ILLNESS WHEN BUYING | Group credit-life is issued on a short declaration with no medicals — easy at disbursal, contested at claim. The dispute lands on your family at the exact moment they need the loan cleared. |
| AMOUNT PAID IF AN ACCIDENT LEAVES YOU UNABLE TO WORK | Some variants cover disability or job loss; most don't. Read the certificate of insurance — the one document from the loan kit nobody reads. |
| AMOUNT YOU CAN PULL OUT IN A CASH EMERGENCY | ₹0 — but on foreclosure or balance transfer, claim the proportionate premium refund. Banks rarely volunteer it. |
| AMOUNT THE SELLER EARNS WHEN YOU BUY | The BANK earns the commission as corporate agent — which is why the 'insurance is required' line appears at disbursal, when you'll sign anything to get the loan. |
| WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THE CLAIM IS REJECTED | Standard ladder against the insurer (grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Ombudsman) — and if the policy was forced on you as a loan condition, a parallel complaint against the bank with the RBI Banking Ombudsman. |
Watch for: Bundling insurance with a loan cannot be made compulsory — you may decline it or buy a cheaper term plan and assign it instead. If it was added without clear consent, complain to the lender and the insurer's grievance cell.
Our reading: Protecting the loan is right; this vehicle is usually the expensive way. A regular term plan sized to cover the loan does the same job, stays level, and pays your family, who then choose whether to prepay.
The policy document, translated
Twenty-six terms that decide whether a claim is paid — each in one honest sentence.
| What the document says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sum assured | The headline amount the company promises to pay on the insured event. Everything else in the document qualifies this number. |
| Premium | What you pay. In bundled products, only a slice of it buys actual insurance — the rest is savings, charges, and commission. |
| Rider | An add-on benefit (accident, critical illness, waiver of premium) with its own premium, its own sum assured, and its own exclusions. |
| Free-look period | Your legal right to return a policy for a refund within 30 days of receiving the document (IRDAI Policyholders' Protection Regulations 2024). The single most under-used consumer right in Indian insurance. |
| Grace period | Extra time to pay a missed premium — typically 30 days (15 for monthly mode) — during which cover continues. |
| Lapse | What happens when the grace period ends unpaid: cover stops, and in savings plans your money gets locked into paid-up or surrender mechanics. |
| Paid-up value | If you stop paying after a minimum period, the policy continues at a shrunken sum assured instead of dying. Often the least-bad exit from a mis-sold endowment. |
| Surrender value (GSV/SSV) | What you get for quitting a savings policy early. Guaranteed surrender value is a statutory floor (a % of premiums paid); special surrender value is usually higher — ask for both numbers in writing. |
| Bonus (reversionary) | A yearly addition declared per ₹1,000 of SUM ASSURED (not your premium), paid only at death or maturity. ₹40 per ₹1,000 sounds like 4% interest; it is not. |
| Terminal bonus | A discretionary parting gift at maturity/death. Not guaranteed; do not let an illustration lean on it. |
| Maturity benefit | What you get for surviving the full term. ₹0 in pure term insurance — by design. |
| Death benefit | What your nominee gets when you die. In ULIPs, usually the HIGHER of sum assured or fund value — check which formula your policy uses. |
| Nominee | The person the insurer pays. A nominee is a receiver, not automatically the owner — a 'beneficiary nominee' (spouse/children/parents, post-2015 law) keeps the money; others may hold it for legal heirs. |
| Waiting period (initial) | Health: the first 30 days when only accidents are covered. Critical illness: usually 90 days. |
| Pre-existing disease (PED) | Anything diagnosed or treated within 36 months before buying. Excluded for up to 36 months of cover (IRDAI 2024 cap, down from 48). Hiding it is the #1 cause of rejected claims. |
| Moratorium period | After 60 months of continuous health cover, the insurer can no longer contest a claim except for proven fraud (IRDAI 2024, down from 8 years). Continuity is everything — port, never lapse. |
| Survival period | Critical illness fine print: you must survive 14–30 days AFTER diagnosis for the lump sum to be paid. |
| Room-rent limit / proportionate deduction | Pick a room above your policy's cap and the insurer cuts the ENTIRE bill in proportion — not just the room charge. The most expensive single line in a health policy. |
| Sub-limit | A cap inside the cap: cataract at ₹40k, maternity at ₹50k — even if your sum insured is ₹25 lakh. |
| Co-pay | The % of every claim you pay from your own pocket. Common in senior-citizen policies; check before it surprises you at discharge. |
| Restoration / recharge | Sum insured refills after a claim, usually for an UNRELATED illness by a DIFFERENT family member — read which. |
| Exclusions | The list of things never covered. Read this list before the benefits — it is shorter and more honest. |
| Incontestability (s.45) | Section 45, Insurance Act 1938: after 3 policy years the insurer cannot question the policy 'on any ground whatsoever' (courts are still divided on whether proven fraud survives this bar). Before 3 years, misstatement can sink a claim — honest disclosure at purchase is your family's best protection. |
| Suicide clause | Death by suicide within 12 months of policy start or revival: nominee gets at least 80% of premiums paid (non-linked) or the fund value (linked), not the sum assured. |
| Claim settlement ratio (CSR) | % of claims an insurer settled by COUNT. A 99% CSR can hide low settlement by AMOUNT; check both, and check the health 'claims paid ratio' separately. |
| Underwriting | The insurer's right to investigate you BEFORE issuing. A policy issued after strict underwriting (medical tests) is far harder to dispute later than one issued on a tele-declaration. |
Read your own policy in 20 minutes
Eight lines to find in any policy document you already own. If you cannot find them in 20 minutes, that is the document working as designed.
- Policy schedule → Sum assured / Death benefit. The number your family actually gets. In ULIPs, find the formula (higher-of vs sum-of).
- Policy schedule → Premium, mode, and premium-paying term. How much, how often, for how long — and whether the premium is level or reviewable.
- Benefit section → Maturity / survival benefits. What you get for surviving. If it is a table of 'guaranteed additions', compute the XIRR.
- Surrender / paid-up clause (GSV & SSV tables). Your exit price, year by year. Read it BEFORE you need it.
- Exclusions list + suicide clause. The events that pay ₹0. Shorter and more informative than the benefits brochure.
- Waiting periods (health: initial / PED / specific diseases). The calendar that decides whether your claim next year is payable.
- Room-rent limit, co-pay, and sub-limits (health). The three clauses that shrink a ₹25L cover to a ₹4L payout.
- Claim procedure + intimation timelines. Who to call, within how many days, with which documents — the part read for the first time on the worst day. Read it today instead.
What the taxman does to your policy
The part most sellers get wrong and most buyers never check — what the taxman does to your policy.
| Rule | What it means for you | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Death benefit | Exempt without monetary limit under s.10(10D) — for every policy type, at any premium level. | s.10(10D), Income-tax Act 1961 |
| Life policy maturity — the ₹5 lakh trap | For non-ULIP life policies ISSUED ON OR AFTER 1 Apr 2023: if aggregate annual premium across such policies exceeds ₹5 lakh, maturity proceeds are TAXABLE (as income from other sources, per CBDT Circular 15/2023 guidelines). Older policies keep the exemption. | s.10(10D) sixth/seventh proviso, Finance Act 2023; CBDT Circular 15/2023 |
| ULIP — the ₹2.5 lakh trap | ULIPs issued on or after 1 Feb 2021 with aggregate annual premium above ₹2.5 lakh: maturity proceeds taxed as capital gains under s.45(1B) read with s.112A. | s.10(10D) fourth/fifth proviso + s.45(1B), Finance Act 2021 |
| The 10% rule inside 10(10D) and 80C | If annual premium exceeds 10% of sum assured (policies issued after 1 Apr 2012), the maturity exemption is lost entirely AND the s.80C deduction is capped at 10% of sum assured. Many single-premium policies fail this test. | s.10(10D) & s.80C(3A) |
| s.80C — life premiums | Deduction up to ₹1.5 lakh within the overall 80C basket — OLD REGIME ONLY. Under the default new regime, 'tax saving' is no longer a reason to buy a life policy at all. | s.80C; s.115BAC |
| s.80D — health premiums | ₹25,000 (self + family) plus ₹25,000 for parents — ₹50,000 where the insured is a senior citizen; ₹5,000 preventive-health-checkup sub-limit inside these caps. Old regime only. | s.80D |
| TDS on taxable policy payouts | Where a life-policy payout is NOT exempt under 10(10D), the insurer deducts TDS at 2% (rate reduced from 5% by Finance (No. 2) Act 2024, effective 1 Oct 2024) on the income component of payouts of ₹1 lakh or more. | s.194DA, as amended by Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 |
| GST on premiums | Individual life and health insurance premiums are exempt from GST with effect from 22 Sep 2025 (56th GST Council meeting; group policies stay at 18%). One catch: insurers lost input-tax credit, so some base premiums drifted up — check whether your renewal premium actually dropped by the full 18%. | 56th GST Council decision, notified — Dept. of Financial Services |
The questions nobody answers until it is too late
The questions nobody answers until it is too late — asked bluntly, answered bluntly.
Who actually gets the money — the nominee, or the legal heirs?
Since the 2015 amendment to s.39 of the Insurance Act, a nominee who is your spouse, child, or parent is a 'beneficiary nominee' — the money belongs to them. Any other nominee (a sibling, a friend) merely HOLDS the money in trust for your legal heirs under succession law. No nominee at all, and the payout waits for a succession certificate. Practical rule: nominate spouse/children/parents directly, keep the nomination updated after every marriage, divorce, and birth — and still write a Will, because courts have not fully settled every conflict between a nomination and a Will.
What happens if the insurance company itself collapses?
An Indian insurer is not allowed to simply fold with your policy. IRDAI's playbook is to transfer the entire book of policies to another insurer — exactly what happened when Sahara India Life failed: its policies moved to SBI Life (2023) with benefits intact. LIC policies additionally carry an explicit sovereign guarantee (s.37, LIC Act 1956). What does NOT exist is a deposit-insurance-style fund like banks' DICGC — so an insurer's solvency ratio (published quarterly, minimum 1.5) is worth a glance for a 30-year commitment.
I have two life policies. Does my family get both?
Yes — in full. Life insurance is not indemnity: every valid life policy pays its complete death benefit independently, whether you hold two or ten. The only condition: each proposal form asked about your existing policies, and you answered honestly (total cover wildly beyond your income is an underwriting question at purchase, never a deduction at claim).
I have two health policies — employer's and my own. How do claims split?
You choose. Under IRDAI's health regulations you may claim the whole bill from either policy; if one sum insured runs out, the balance can be claimed from the second (submit the first insurer's settlement summary with attested bills). Fixed-benefit policies — hospital cash, critical illness — pay on top regardless, because they pay for the EVENT, not the bill.
Death by drunk driving — does the policy pay?
Two different answers. A pure TERM policy's standard exclusion list is essentially one item: suicide in year 1 — so death in a crash, even while intoxicated, is generally payable on the base cover. But the accidental-death RIDER and any personal-accident policy almost always exclude accidents under the influence of alcohol or drugs — the rider rejects while the base pays. This asymmetry is written in the exclusions section nobody reads.
What if the nominee murdered the policyholder?
A murderer cannot profit from the murder — Indian courts disqualify a nominee or heir who killed the insured; the claim is paid to the remaining legal heirs instead. The claim itself does not die with the crime: murder of the insured by a third party is a payable death like any other.
I die abroad. Does my Indian policy pay?
Yes — life cover on an Indian policy is worldwide, and settling abroad after purchase does not void it. The friction is documentary: a death certificate from the local authority, attested by the Indian embassy or apostilled, plus the usual claim forms. What CAN sink the claim is a false answer at purchase — declaring residence in India while already settled abroad, or hiding a hazardous occupation overseas.
I am terminally ill but alive. Is there anything before death?
Often yes, and almost nobody checks: many term plans carry an inbuilt terminal-illness benefit that pays the full sum assured early on certification that life expectancy is under 6–12 months — turning the death benefit into money usable for treatment and settling affairs. Open your policy schedule and search 'terminal illness'. If it is there, it costs nothing extra; if it matters to you and is not, it is a reason to pick a different insurer next time.
War, terror attack, pandemic, earthquake — do they pay?
For civilian life cover: generally yes. Indian life insurers paid COVID-19 death claims, and death in a terror attack or natural disaster is a payable death — insurers did not invoke fine print after 26/11 or the tsunami. Personal-accident policies are the exception again: war and nuclear-risk exclusions are standard there. Serving armed-forces personnel have specific war-risk terms — read the schedule.
What happens to the policy in a divorce? Can I protect the payout from my creditors?
A policy is the policyholder's asset — you can change the nominee after divorce (do it; ex-spouses stay nominated by inertia all the time). The exception is a policy bought under the Married Women's Property Act, s.6: it becomes an irrevocable trust for your wife and/or children from day one — you cannot change it later, your creditors cannot attach it, and it does not merge into your estate. For a business owner with personal guarantees, an MWP-marked term policy is the single cheapest asset-protection instrument in Indian law.
I started smoking after buying my term plan. Is my policy in danger?
No. Your declarations are judged as on the date of the proposal — a term policy does not require you to update lifestyle changes after issue, and the premium stays locked. The trap runs the other way: smoking BEFORE purchase and declaring 'non-smoker' is a misstatement the insurer can use within the first 3 years (s.45). Answer for who you are on the day you sign, and the policy is yours for the term.
The insurer is delaying the claim for months. Is that allowed?
No. IRDAI's 2024 policyholder-protection framework requires death claims needing no investigation to be settled within 15 days, and investigated claims within 45 days of intimation; health insurers must give final authorisation within 3 hours of hospital discharge request. Delay beyond the timeline attracts interest payable by the insurer. Put the intimation date in writing, count the days, and cite the timeline in your grievance — delay is a compensable default, not a norm to tolerate.
The seller's script
Eleven lines you will hear — and what is actually happening
Mis-selling in India is not improvised — it runs on a script. Here is the script, line by line.
"Sir, insurance plus investment plus tax saving — three benefits in one plan."
It does all three badly. The cover is ~10× premium (your family needs 10–15× your INCOME), the return is ~4–5.5%, and under the default new tax regime there is no s.80C deduction at all — the tax pitch is selling you a benefit that no longer exists for most salaried buyers.
"You get ALL your money back. Term insurance is money wasted."
Return-of-premium costs 1.5–2× the pure term premium. The 'refund' is your own extra money, returned after 30–40 years with zero interest — inflation has already eaten half of it. Put the difference in a PPF and you beat the plan with a government guarantee.
"Guaranteed bonus of ₹45 per thousand, every year."
That's ₹45 per ₹1,000 of SUM ASSURED, not of your money — a simple (non-compounding) addition you receive only at death or maturity. It sounds like 4.5% interest; the actual XIRR on your cash flows is what matters, and the seller has never computed it. Make them.
"Just sign here, I'll fill the rest of the form for you."
The proposal form is the claim's legal foundation. For 3 years (s.45, Insurance Act) the insurer can void the policy over any misstatement in it — and every guess your agent wrote becomes YOUR misstatement. Fill your own form. Photograph every page.
"Insurance is mandatory for this loan, sir. It's bank policy."
Bundled credit-life earns the BANK a commission and is financed into your EMI so you pay interest on the premium too. Cover for the loan is sensible — but a regular term plan assigned to the lender does the same job cheaper, stays level while your loan reduces, and pays your FAMILY, not the bank.
"This ULIP is basically a mutual fund, but safer because of the insurance."
It is a mutual fund with four extra layers of charges, a 5-year lock-in, and a sliver of cover. 'Safer' refers to nothing measurable. If you want the market, buy the fund; if you want safety, that's the term plan — the bundle exists because bundles are easier to mis-sell than either piece alone.
"Buy before 31 March, sir — save tax this year!"
March is the industry's harvest season: panic + deadline = decades-long commitments signed in a week. A 20-year contract does not become a good idea because the financial year is ending. And again — new regime, no 80C.
"No medical test needed. Instant approval."
A policy issued without underwriting is easy to buy and easy to dispute. The insurer skipped the questions today so it can ask them at claim time, when you're not there to answer. Insist on the medical — a policy issued after full tests is far harder to contest.
"LIC never rejects claims. Private companies always do."
Check the data, not the folklore: IRDAI publishes claim settlement ratios (by count AND by amount) and complaint volumes for every insurer, every year. Several private insurers settle 99%+. And a settled claim on a ₹5 lakh endowment is still ₹5 lakh — cover size matters more than the settlement slogan.
"This offer closes this week — special bonus for new customers only."
Insurance is a regulated product; there are no flash sales. The deadline is the seller's monthly commission target. Any product that needs urgency to sell will still be mis-priced next month — and roughly half of life-policy buyers quit within 5 years, eating the surrender loss on exactly these rushed decisions.
"Why do you ask what I earn on this? I'm advising you like family."
Since April 2023 there is no product-level cap on commissions. On a traditional savings plan the first-year commission can approach a third of your premium; on a term plan it's a few hundred rupees. The pitch order in front of you is the commission table, read aloud.
The outright frauds — and how to hit back
Mis-selling at least gives you a real policy. These are the outright frauds — where there is no policy, a forged one, or a criminal on the phone. Each one: how it works, how to spot it, how to hit back.
The pocketed premium — you paid, no policy exists
How to spot it: You paid cash or transferred to a personal account; the 'policy document' is a PDF that never arrives, or a receipt on a letterhead. No SMS/email from the insurer itself within days of payment.
How to hit back: Never pay a person — pay the insurer: its official app, website, or a cheque/transfer in the insurer's name only. Within a week of any payment, verify the policy number directly on the insurer's website or official phone line (not a number the agent gave you). Since April 2024 new policies are issued electronically — if there is nothing in your e-Insurance Account or inbox from the insurer's official domain, treat the money as stolen and move: 1930 immediately, then FIR.
The forged proposal — someone else's answers over your signature
How to spot it: You signed a blank or half-filled form; the policy pack arrives with a proposal copy showing an income, health history, or nominee you never stated.
How to hit back: The insurer must attach a copy of your proposal form to the policy pack — READ it against what you actually said. Anything wrong: invoke the 30-day free-look and return the policy in writing, citing the discrepancies. Keep photos of every form you ever sign. A forged answer discovered at claim time becomes your family's problem; discovered in the free-look window it becomes the agent's.
The 'IRDAI officer' call — bonus, refund, or 'release fee'
How to spot it: A caller claims to be from IRDAI, the ombudsman, or your insurer's 'head office': a bonus is stuck, a refund is waiting, your lapsed policy has money in it — pay a fee or tax to release it. Sometimes they know your real policy number (data leaks are common).
How to hit back: IRDAI is a regulator: it never phones policyholders, never handles claim money, never collects fees. Any call that pairs 'money waiting for you' with 'pay something first' is theft, full stop. Hang up, report the number at cybercrime.gov.in, and if you paid anything call 1930 within the hour — speed decides whether the trail freezes.
The revival/rescue scam — 'we can recover your lapsed policy's value'
How to spot it: Someone with your lapsed-policy details offers to recover its money if you pay a processing fee — or 'transfer the value' into a new (commission-bearing) policy.
How to hit back: Revival happens through exactly one door: the insurer itself, by paying arrears plus interest with fresh declarations. Nobody else can touch a lapsed policy's value. If a lapsed savings policy acquired paid-up value, that money is already yours at maturity/death — no fee 'releases' it faster.
The churn — 'this plan is closing, surrender and switch'
How to spot it: An agent urges you to surrender an old policy and put the proceeds into a new plan 'before the old one closes' or 'because the new one is better'. Surrender + fresh sale = fresh first-year commission on your money.
How to hit back: 'Plan closing' affects NEW sales only — an issued policy runs on its original terms forever. Before any surrender, get three numbers in writing: current surrender value, paid-up value, and maturity value if continued — then decide on arithmetic, not urgency. A switch that starts with your surrender cheque is usually a commission event, not advice.
The phishing renewal — fake payment link at premium time
How to spot it: SMS/WhatsApp/email near your renewal date with a payment link or QR; sender name looks like the insurer; the domain does not. Fraudsters time these to real renewal cycles.
How to hit back: Never pay through a link that came TO you. Go to the insurer's app or type its website yourself, log in, pay there. A premium paid to a fraudster does not keep your policy alive — you lose the money AND the cover lapses. If clicked and paid: 1930, then inform the insurer in writing that the lapse arose from fraud.
The claim-time middleman — 'I'll get your rejected claim passed, for a cut'
How to spot it: After a rejection (or at a hospital discharge desk), a 'consultant' promises approval for 10–20% of the claim, often claiming inside contacts.
How to hit back: The escalation ladder is free and works without contacts: grievance officer → Bima Bharosa → Insurance Ombudsman (claims to ₹50 lakh, no lawyer needed, binding on the insurer if you accept). Anyone selling 'influence' over that process is defrauding you a second time — and fabricated documents they submit can legally sink an otherwise honest claim.
The employer/group-cover illusion — cover that vanishes with the job
How to spot it: Not a criminal fraud, but the risk that bites the most people: relying wholly on employer health/life cover, which ends the day you resign, are laid off, or retire — exactly when a fresh personal policy is costliest and your conditions are 'pre-existing'.
How to hit back: Hold a personal health policy alongside the employer one from your first job — the waiting periods and the 60-month moratorium run only on the personal policy. On exit, some group policies allow conversion to individual cover within 30 days — ask HR in writing before your last day.
Universal reporting ladder for insurance fraud: the insurer's own fraud/grievance cell → Bima Bharosa (bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in) → for money already stolen, the cyber-crime helpline 1930 / cybercrime.gov.in within hours (banks can freeze the money trail if you are fast) → police FIR for forgery.
Eleven questions that end bad pitches
Eleven questions to ask before signing anything. A seller who answers all eleven in writing is selling you something real. A seller who dodges any of them has answered you already.
- If I die next year, exactly how much does my family get — and is that at least 10–15× my annual income?
- If I stop paying after year 3, exactly how much do I get back? Write the surrender value number down for me.
- What is the annual return (XIRR) if I survive to maturity — computed separately on the GUARANTEED column and the projected column of the illustration?
- What do you earn if I buy this — and what would you earn if I bought a pure term plan instead?
- Which of my existing health conditions have I disclosed, in writing, and where exactly on the form?
- What are ALL the waiting periods — the 30-day initial, pre-existing disease, disease-specific, and (for critical illness) the 90-day wait plus survival period?
- Show me the exclusions section and the Customer Information Sheet. Read them to me line by line.
- Is this rider ACCELERATED (its payout reduces my death benefit) or ADDITIONAL (paid on top)?
- Room-rent limit, co-pay, disease sub-limits, consumables — yes or no on each, in writing?
- What happens if I miss one premium — grace period, lapse, revival cost after 2 years?
- If my claim is rejected, what is the escalation path — and will you personally help my family run it?
Run your own numbers
Life Insurance Coverage Calculator →
How much term cover you actually need — three actuarial methods.
Health Insurance Gap →
Under or over covered? City-tier benchmarks and super top-up logic.
IRR Calculator →
Paste your policy's real cash flows and see the true annual return.
Suspect you were mis-sold? You probably were — roughly half of Indian life-policy buyers quit within five years. Run the numbers with the tools above, use the eleven questions on your seller, and if you want a second pair of eyes on the arithmetic, talk to the firm — we sell no insurance and are barred by the Chartered Accountants Act from earning a rupee of commission, so the only thing we have to offer you is the truth about your policy.