POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE
Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1st February 1884 with the express approval of the Secretary of State (for India) to Her Majesty, the Queen Empress of India. It was essentially a scheme of State Insurance mooted by the then Director General of Post Offices, Mr. F.R. Hogg in 1881 as a welfare scheme for the benefit of Postal employees and later extended to the employees of Telegraph department in 1888. In 1894, PLI extended insurance cover to female employees of P & T Department at a time when no other insurance company covered female lives. It is the oldest Life insurer in this country.
In the beginning, the upper limit of life insurance was only Rs 4000/- which has now increased to Rs 10 lacs (Rupees Ten Lacs) for all schemes combined - Endowment Assurance and Whole Life Assurance. Over the years, PLI has grown substantially from a few hundred policies in 1884 to 42,83,302 policies as on 31.03.2010. It now covers employees of Central and State Governments, Central and State Public Sector Undertakings, Universities, Government aided Educational institutions, Nationalized Banks, Local bodies etc. PLI also extends the facility of insurance to the officers and staff of the Defence services and Para-Military forces. Apart from single insurance policies, Postal Life Insurance also manages a Group Insurance scheme for the Extra Departmental Employees (Gramin Dak Sevaks) of the Department of Posts.
PLI is an exempted insurer under Section 118 (c) of the Insurance Act of 1938. It is also exempted under Section 44 (d) of LIC Act, 1956.
PLI offers 7 (Seven) types of plans:
|
WHOLE LIFE ASSURANCE:
This is a scheme where the assured amount with accrued bonus is payable to the assignee, nominee or the legal heir after death of the insurant. Minimum Age at entry is 19 years and the maximum Age at entry is 55 years. The minimum Sum Assured is Rs 20,000 and the maximum Sum Assured is Rs 10 lacs. The policy can be converted into an Endowment Assurance Policy after completion of one year and before 57 years of age of the insurant. Loan facility is available after completion of four years and policy can also be surrendered after completion of three years. The policy is not eligible for bonus if surrendered or assigned for loan before completion of 5 years. Proportionate bonus on the reduced sum assured is accrued if the policy is surrendered or assigned for loan. |
ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE:
Under this scheme, the proponent is given an assurance to the extent of the Sum Assured and accrued bonus till he/she attains the pre-determined age of maturity. In case of unexpected death of the insurant, the assignee, nominee or the legal heir is paid the full Sum Assured together with the accrued bonus. The minimum age at entry is 19 years and the maximum Age at entry is 55 years. The minimum Sum Assured is Rs 20,000 and the maximum Sum Assured is Rs 10 lacs. Loan facility is available and policy can also be surrendered after completion of three years. The policy is not eligible for bonus if surrendered or assigned for loan before completion of 5 years. Proportionate bonus on the reduced sum assured is accrued if the policy is surrendered or assigned for loan. |
CONVERTIBLE WHOLE LIFE ASSURANCE:
The features of this scheme are more or less same as Endowment assurance. Policy can be converted into Endowment Assurance after five years. Age on the date of conversion must not exceed 55 years. If option for conversion is not exercised within 6 years, the policy will be treated as Whole Life Assurance. Loan facility is available. The policy can also be surrendered after completion of three years. The policy is not eligible for bonus if surrendered or assigned for loan before completion of 5 years. Proportionate bonus on the reduced sum assured is accrued if the policy is surrendered or assigned for loan. The policy is not eligible for bonus if surrendered or assigned for loan before completion of 5 years. Proportionate bonus on the reduced sum assured is accrued if the policy is surrendered or assigned for loan. |
ANTICIPATED ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE:
It is a Money Back Policy with maximum Sum Assured of Rs 5 lacs. Best suited to those who need periodical returns. Survival benefit is paid to the insurant periodically. Two types of policies are available - 15 years term and 20 years term. For the 15 years term policy, the benefits are paid after 6 years (20%), 9 years (20%), 12 years (20%) and 15 years (40% and the accrued bonus). For the 20 years term policy, the benefits are paid after 8 years (20%), 12 years (20%), 16 years (20%) and 20 years (40% and the accrued bonus). Such payments will not be taken into consideration in the event of unexpected death of the insurant and the full sum assured with accrued bonus is payable to the assignee or legal heir. |
JOINT LIFE ASSURRANCE:
It is a joint-life Endowment Assurance in which one of the spouses should be eligible for PLI policies. Life insurance coverage is provided to both the spouses to the extent of sum assured with accrued bonus with only one premium. All other features are same as an Endowment policy. All the above schemes have compulsory medical examination. For the non-medical policy of any category (except AEA and Joint Life Assurance for which Medical Examination is compulsory), the maximum Sum Assured is Rs 1 lac. |
LIMITS OF SUM ASSURED IN POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE:
Any person who is eligible to the benefit of Post Office Life Insurance Fund under Rule 6, may effect an insurance-Whole Life Assurance, Endowment Assurance, Convertible Whole Assurance, Anticipated Endowment Assurance and Yugal Suraksha Policy or all of them on his life for a sum not less than Rs. 20,000 in each class but not more than an aggregate of Rs. Twenty Lac (Rs. 20,00,000/-) in respect of one class/all classes of insurance policy (s) taken together. The value of policy shall be taken in multiples of Rs. 10,000/- after minimum limit of Rs.20,000/- i.e. Rs. 20,000/-, Rs.30,000/-,Rs. 50,000/- and so on. |
SCHEME FOR PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PERSONS:
The maximum limit of Insurance for Physically Handicapped persons in PLI is the same as others and he/she can take any one of the plans. Medical examination is compulsory under this scheme in order to determine the exact nature and extent of their handicap and its bearing on the life being insured. Depending upon the nature and extent of handicap, normal or a slightly higher premium is charged. |
CHILDREN POLICY
The Department has introduced Children Policy under PLI/RPLI, with effect form 20th Jan 2006. The salient features of this scheme are as under:-
|
PLI is the only insurer in the Indian Life Insurance market today, which gives the highest return (bonus) with the lowest premium charged for any product in the market.
A PLI/RPLI policy holder also gets following facilities :
- Change of nomination.
- The insurant can take loan by pledging his/her policy to Heads of the Circle/Region on behalf of President of India, provided the policy has completed 3 years in case of Endowment Assurance and 4 years in case of Whole Life Assurance. The facility of assignment is also available.
- Assignment of Policy to any Financial Institution for taking loan.
- Revival of his/her lapsed policy. Policy lapses after 6 unpaid premiums if it remained in force for less than 3 years and after 12 unpaid premiums if it remained in force for more than 3 years.
- Issue of Duplicate Policy Bond in case of the original Policy Bond is lost, burnt/torn/mutilation.
- Conversion from Whole Life Assurance to Endowment Assurance and from Endowment Assurance to other Endowment Assurance as per rules.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(A) Premium Income (2009-10) (Audited) (in Rs. Crore) PLI = 2415.21
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
To download the table pl click the following link
|
RURAL POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE
![]() |
Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) came into being as a sequel to the recommendations of the Official Committee for Reforms in the Insurance Sector (Malhotra Committee). The Committee had observed in 1993 that only 22% of the insurable population in this country had been insured; life insurance funds accounted for only 10% of the gross household savings. The Committee had observed:
“ The Committee understands that Rural Branch Postmasters who enjoy a position of trust in the community have the capacity to canvass life insurance business within their respective areas…..”
The Government accepted the recommendations of Malhotra Committee and allowed Postal Life Insurance to extend its coverage to the rural areas to transact life insurance businesswith effect from 24.3.1995, mainly because of the vast network of Post Offices in the rural areas and low cost of operations. The prime objective of the scheme is to provide insurance cover to the rural public in general and to benefit weaker sections and women workers of rural areas in particular and also to spread insurance awareness among the rural population. As on 31.03.2010, we have 99,25,103 RPLI policies.
|
- Whole Life Assurance ( GRAMA SURAKSHA)
- Convertible Whole Life Assurance (GRAMA SUVIDHA)
- Endowment Assurance ( GRAMA SANTOSH)
- Anticipated Endowment Assurance (GRAMA SUMANGAL)
- GRAM PRIYA
- Scheme for Physically handicapped persons
The salient features of the Whole Life, Endowment, Convertible Whole Life and Anticipated Endowment Schemes of RPLI are same as the corresponding schemes of PLI except that the minimum Sum Assured is Rs.10,000 and the maximum Sum Assured is Rs.3 lac. The maximum age limit of entry is 55 years in case of Whole Life and Endowment Assurance but 45 years in case of other plans.
All the schemes have compulsory medical examination. For the non-medical policies, the maximum limit of Sum Assured is Rs.25,000/-, and maximum age is 35 years. In case of Non-standard age proof for Rural PLI policies, the maximum age limit is 45 years.
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PLI is the only insurer in the Indian Life Insurance market today which gives the highest return (bonus) with the lowest premium charged for any product in the market.
A PLI/RPLI policy holder may also get following facilities :-
|
![]() |
Issue of acceptance letter |
15 days
|
Issue of policy bonds |
15 days
|
Inter-Circle transfer of policies |
10 days
|
Settlement of claims on maturity |
30 days
|
Settlement of claims on death with nomination |
30 days
|
Settlement of death claim involving investigation |
90 days
|
Payment of paid-up value |
30 days
|
Loan for policies |
10 days
|
Changes of address |
10 days
|
Change of nomination |
10 days
|
Assignment |
10 days
|
Issue of duplicate policy document |
10 days
|
Revival of policy |
15 days
|
Conversion of policy |
15 days
|
![]() | |||||||||||||
|
http://www.postallifeinsurance.gov.in/static/DownloadForm.aspx
![]() |
Who are eligible for obtaining a PLI policy? Employees of the following Organizations are eligible.
Such categories are not eligible. They can opt for RPLI policies. If one spouse is working in a Government organization but the other is not, is there any scheme in PLI for both? We have ‘Yugal Suraksha’ scheme under which both can jointly get a policy, after paying a little more premium. Both can be covered under this assurance scheme. Can one continue the policy if one quits the Government Service? Yes. One can continue by making payment of premium at any one of the 1,55,000 post offices throughout the country, even after quitting service. For Rural Postal Life Insurance any Indian residing in Rural India can take RPLI. Rural area is defined as one being outside the limits of a municipality. Age Limit: In all policies the age limit is (age as on next birthday):19-55 years. Only in AEA and GRAM Priya in RPLI the maximum age limit is 40 years. for further information pl click the following link. http://www.postallifeinsurance.gov.in/Index.aspx |
good
ReplyDelete