India's biggest life insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), will reportedly close more than two-dozen individual insurance products, eight group insurance schemes and seven-eight riders from November 30. Some of LIC's bestsellers -- Jeevan Anand, Jeevan Umang, Jeevan Lakshya and Jeevan Lab -- will be closed among retail products.
The public sector behemoth will revise and relaunch the plans with the insurance regulator's revised customer-centric product guidelines in the coming months. However, the new plans will have lower bonus rates and higher premium rates. "At least 75-80 life insurance products of the entire industry would go off the shelf after November 30 as they are non-compliant with the new non-linked and linked insurance regulations," said an Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) official.
However, the source also confirmed that a large number of products are compliant and would continue to be sold from December 1 with a tweak in pricing. "We don't see any disruption in the market. The insurers are on the job. However, Insurers will have to reprice the products within the bandwidth to manage their risk. In certain cases the premium rates can fall also," the official told Financial Chronicle.
LIC Chairman MR Kumar, who was earlier the executive director at LIC, told FC, "We will be closing some products, modifying them as per the new norms and then relaunching them in the coming months."
Therefore, LIC's insurance agents are pushing the existing products hard, asking customers to buy them before they close on November 30.
Once LIC's bestsellers
Jeevan Labh
This is a simple endowment plan. You pay premiums for a limited period of time and at the end of the policy term, you will get the Maturity Benefits. In case of death of the policyholder anytime during the policy term, the nominee will get the Death Benefit.
Jeevan Anand
This plan is a combination of Endowment Assurance and Whole Life plans. It provides financial protection against death throughout the lifetime of the life assured with the provision of payment of a lump sum at the end of the selected term in case of his survival.
Jeevan Umang
This is an endowment cum whole life plan which offers a regular payout from the end of the premium payment term till the date of your survival. This plan is a participating plan eligible for Simple Reversionary Bonus and Final Addition Bonus.
Jeevan Lakshya
The plan provides a regular income to take care of your family's needs as a death benefit. The plan has survival benefits and also has a bonus component in the plan. It's a participating non-linked plan that fulfils your savings and financial protection requirements. Loan facility can also be availed on surrender value in this plan.
