Life insurance fulfils multiple goals in your financial life. You can offer financial protection to your family with term and health insurance and create wealth in long-term with ULIPs. Life insurance even offers solution for your retirement with robust and tax efficient pension plans.

But, with the huge number of options available, how do you find the best life insurance company in India to fulfil your financial goals? Here we compile a list of five top life insurers in India and what makes them count in that position.

Have a look and decide:

1. Life Insurance Corporation of India

LIC was started in 1956 with headquarters in Mumbai is the top and famous life insurance,provider. The net worth exceeds over the US $240 billion and over 3000 branches in India. It is considered as the most trusted life insurance company and was featured in Brand trust report for 4 times in a row.

What Makes LIC better?

LIC enjoys the trust of customers because of being a public-sector government backed entity. Also, having enjoyed the monopoly over Indian life insurance markets for over two decades, LIC is also the largest grossing insurer in the country.

Comparing LIC with private insurers is often injustice to the private insurers, due to their late entry in the Indian market. But we are mentioning LIC since it is too big to be ignored.

LIC also offers the highest claim settlement ratio. However, this has lead to a higher premium cost for LIC’s plans.

2. Max Life Insurance Company

Earlier it was known as Max New York Life insurance. The company was started in 2000 with head office at Delhi.  The claim settlement ratio is 97.81% in last year (2016-17) which is the best in the industry (among private insurers).Max Life’s claim settlement number is the highest among the private life insurers in India. Combined with their cross-country presence and featureful product portfolio perhaps put Max Life among the best life insurance companies in India.

What Makes Max Life Insurance Better?

Max Life Insurance has put huge efforts into turning their brand into a customer-oriented brand. Their strongest feature is their claim settlement process, which is no less than a practical example of what life insurers should do.

Max Life’s claim settlement can be understood with the way they process the life insurance claim. Any claim which is less than Rs. 50 lakh is processed within 1 day of receipt of all documents, while larger claims may take no more than 5 days. The best part is the assignment of a claim officer whose task is to ensure the timely processing of the claim.

3. SBI Life Insurance

SBI, as we all know, is the largest public-sector bank,and SBI insurance is a joint venture of SBI Bank and BNP Paribas. With the advantage of its banking sector, it’s doing proficient in the business. It has over 1500 branches in India with a claim settlement ratio of 96.69% in 2017-18. It was also featured as the largest corporation in fortune global 500.

What Makes SBI Life better?

The SBI Life rides the popularity wave of SBI Bank, being the largest public-sector bank in India. However, does not boast of a high claim settlement ratio as LIC. In fact, some private players are doing far better in that place than SBI Life.

Though, SBI Life does enjoy a sizeable market share due to public trust and proliferation of SBI Bank branches.

4. ICICI Prudential Life

It was started in 2000,and it provides a wide range of products based on the suitability of the customers. It is a joint venture between ICICI and Prudential with branches in 950 cities. The claim settlement ratio is 96.68% in 2017-18.

What Makes ICICI Prudential Life Better?

Once again, the name of the ICICI Bank, which is the largest private sector bank in India, boosts the ICICI Pru Life in the list. However, they do have a differentiating plan and very aggressive online insurance offering.

Plus, the company has tried hard to change its image from product sellers to a customer-oriented insurance company. The fruits of their efforts are showing up. However, they still have a long way to go to improve their claim settlement ratio (96.68% for FY 2017-18).

5. TATA AIG

The Company started its operations in 2001 as a joint venture between TATA and AIG. TATA as a

most trusted brand has gained a wide market reach in insurance. It operates in over more than 160 locations in India with a claim ratio of 96.01% in last year.

What Makes TATA AIG Better?

TATA AIA also enjoys the trust built over the years by TATA, and the unique life insurance products offered.However, it is yet to show its presence in the life insurance market place in India.

Other Factors You Can Consider While Choosing Your Life Insurer

• Terms and conditions mentioned in the policy

Every company and policy vary based on the limitations and exclusion. These vary based on the individual’s health, age or medical history. Companies put these exclusions to avoid fraud and misrepresentation by the insured. Some companies provide funds for the funeral while some provide hospitalisation expense before the demise. The services and exclusions provided by companies make them competitive. A company stands apart based on the distinguishing feature with various options that it offers to customers.

• Service quality

Quality of services that an insurance company provides to its customers. The reviews and feedback provided by a customer make the company one of the best. Also, the number of complaints that are reported against a company diminishes the brand image. The complaint reported to the NAIC National Association of Insurance Commissioners are analysed in comparison with the national complains registered.

• Premium Cost

The premium cost for the plans is an important but dubious factor to consider in life insurance products. Although you are free to look at the price, the premium should affect your decision only based on the type of life insurance product.

For example, for term insurance and health insurance, you need not worry much about the premium. However, you may want to pay extra attention to the higher premiums charged for investment products such as endowment and pension plans.

Remember that extra features, higher claim settlement and several offices may attract a higher premium.

Even though there are agents,who are assigned by various companies to sell the product and clear any discrepancy. Still, the products should be simple and easy to understand for the convenience of the customers. The plan should be as per the needs of the customers. If there are a lot of documents and reports required by a company, then there are chances of losing a customer.

Subscribe with us to get your dose of interesting news, research & opinions in the startup segment. Fill the form below:

Name

Email*