by Ashok Kumar | Jun 28, 2020 | Top Global News
Even though the lockdown is gradually being lifted in India, the case count has been rising across the country. Keeping this in view, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has come up with a standard individual Covid-19 product.
In view of the global pandemic Covid-19, the Authority has decided to mandate all general and health insurers to offer a standard individual COVID-19 health insurance product that will be a COVID-19 specific product addressing basic health insurance needs of the public related to Covid-19. The policy should also have a standard product with common policy wordings across the industry.
IRDAI’s COVID cover is a draft product for now, and the regulator has asked both the general and health insurance companies to ensure that this product is compulsorily offered on or before June 15. While comparing with the existing health insurance policies in the market covering the Covid-19 treatment, the fresh IRDAI guidelines and caps are limited to COVID-specific products that will be issued over the next 10 days.
The Financial Express reviewed a copy of Irdai’s draft guidelines. According to the draft guidelines, the insurer has also included the treatment of Covid-19 patients in makeshift hospitals, while the existing health insurance policies do not cover that. As add on covers, only 2 add-ons are allowed to be offered along with the standard Covid-19 product: Quarantine Cover, and Hospital Daily Cash cover. The premium payable towards these 2 add-ons needs to be specified separately so as to enable policyholders to pick, choose, and pay based on the need.
Features of the IRDAI’s COVID cover
- This cover comes with a minimum sum insured of Rs 50,000, and a maximum sum insured of Rs 5 lakh. The ICU charges have been capped at Rs 10,000 per day, room charges have been capped at Rs 5,000 per day, and quarantine charges at Rs 3,000 per day.
- The tenure of the policy is set at one year. It will be available on a family floater basis for individuals with a minimum entry age of 18 years and a maximum of 65 years. The policy will be subject to lifelong renewability.
- The hospitalization cost covers room, nursing expenses, boarding expenses which is up to 2 per cent of the sum insured, capped at Rs 5,000 per day. It also includes surgeon, consultants, specialist fees, anesthetist, medical practitioner, paid directly to the treating doctor, surgeon, or hospital. Other similar expenses include operation theatre charges, surgical appliances, anesthesia, blood, oxygen, medicines and drugs, costs towards diagnostics, and diagnostic imaging modalities.
- According to the guidelines, the policy will cover ICU expenses up to 5 per cent of the sum insured, which is capped at Rs 10,000 per day. Expenses incurred on road ambulance is set at Rs 2,000 per hospitalization. The policy will also cover all daycare treatment.
- The draft guidelines said that the Covid-19 product must be uniform across the market, and should have the basic mandatory covers included.
- The policy is also supposed to cover expenses incurred on hospitalization under AYUSH medicine will be covered without any sub-limits under the policy.
- Pre-hospitalization medical expenses incurred will also be admissible for a period of 30 days prior to the date of hospitalization. It will also cover the costs of diagnostics towards COVID–19. Post-hospitalisation medical expenses following an admissible claim, incurred for a period of 60 days from the date of discharge, will also be included.
- If an individual is quarantined due to diagnosis or suspected infection, under the add-on cover, the insurer will pay 1 per cent of the sum insured per day, up to Rs 3,000 per day. The insurer will pay 0.5 per cent of the sum insured per day as daily hospital cash, for every 24 hours of hospitalization on a positive diagnosis of Covid-19.
- The base covers of standard Covid-19 products will be offered on an indemnity basis. The add-ons, however, will be made available on the basis of the benefits.
- For the standard, COVID–19 product premium can be made on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly basis, according to the regulator
by Ashok Kumar | Jun 28, 2020 | Featured, Insurance, Life Insurance, Top Global News
Term insurance is an excellent & affordable way to secure your family’s financial future in your absence. Term insurance plans not only protect one’s family financially in case of their sudden demise but also provide comprehensive coverage from a range of uncertainties, including accidents and critical illnesses like heart diseases, cancer etc. If you are considering to buy a term insurance plan, you might have to hurry up a bit as, after the recent price hike in the month of April 2020, the insurance premiums are set to experience another significant increase in the months ahead.
Pure protection term plans, including the ones from prominent insurers like HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life, Max Life and Tata-AIA, witnessed a price hike between 20% and 35% in the month of April 2020. Now the premiums of term insurance plans are expected to increase by up to 40%. Insurers who have already revised their premiums by a certain percentage would further increase the prices by remaining values. For the insurers who haven’t yet, would be increasing the prices in the months to come.
Rise in Term Life Insurance Prices
To put things in perspective, for a 35-year-old male, non-smoker residing in a metro city looking for a Rs 1-crore term plan with coverage till 75 years, the monthly premium for TATA AIA term plan surged from Rs 1104 to Rs 1490, witnessing a 35% increase. Similarly, ICICI Prudential incremented the premium by 22% while HDFC and Max Life premiums have been hiked by 18% and 9%, respectively.
Reason Behind Term Life Insurance Price Hike
In order to determine term insurance premiums by the reinsurers, it has been assumed that for every 10,000 lives covered under term insurance plans, only 3 deaths would occur in each policy year. While the expected number is 3, the actual deaths per 10,000 policies issued in a policy year are between 4 & 4.5. To add to the reinsurer woes, the claim amount is massive in case of term insurance with an average policy sum assured of around Rs 1 crore. In the ideal case scenario, actual vs expected ratio should be around 1. This is clearly not the case in India, with the ratio being more than expected, leading to a negative experience in mortality. This situation has lead to revisions in the term insurance premiums by 40%, as demanded by the re-insurers.
Term Plans Remain a Must-Buy
Planning your future well in advance is one of the most important things that you should do to ensure you and your family are financially stable throughout lifetime. A term life insurance plan does exactly this – provides the insured person’s family with a sum assured on the death of the individual to make sure that the family does not have to face hardships after their loved one is no more. A term insurance plan offers life cover for a specific amount & tenure. If the policyholder passes away during the policy term, the insurer pays a death benefit to the beneficiary or the nominee.
A good term insurance plan helps you protect your even better by covering you against most important 3Ds of your life that are Death, Disease and Disability. Term insurance plans can be bought at a very nominal cost. The payouts can be customised as per your needs, whether it be a lump sum payout or staggered payout in monthly instalments. It is further beneficial as the premium you pay towards it can help you avail a deduction under Income Tax Laws. With term insurance prices set to rise anytime soon, it is best to buy a term plan at the earliest as the earlier you buy, the lesser you pay.
by Ashok Kumar | Jun 27, 2020 | Investments, Top Global News
The Govt of India RBI BONDS 7.75% Govt Savings Bonds, which ceased for subscription on May 28, 2020.
Now The Central Govt has decided to replace 7.75% Bonds with new RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020 (Taxable) scheme. These bonds will be issued by the RBI and open for subscription from 1st July 2020. The floating-rate bonds have variable interest rates that adjust periodically.
For the last couple of years or so, the Savings Bonds (Taxable) have been one of the preferred investment options by many retirees, senior citizens and for those who are looking for fixed / regular income.
RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020
Below are the salient features of RBI’s new Savings Bonds;
| Maturity Period | 7 years (lock-in period) |
| Rate of Interest | 7.15% from 1-July-2020.
Will be re-set every 6 months. |
| Benchmark for Reset | Prevailing NSC Rate + 0.35% |
| Risk Attached | Low Risk |
| Minimum Investment | Rs 1,000 |
| Maximum Investment | No Limit |
| Tax Treatment | Interest amount is taxable |
| Tax Benefit Available? | No |
New RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020 Scheme Features
- Who issues these Bonds?
- These Bonds are being issued by the RBI on behalf of the Govt of India.
- Who can buy RBI Savings Bonds?
- An individual, not being a Non-Resident Indian –
- (a) in his or her individual capacity, (or)
- (b) in individual capacity on joint basis, (or)
- (c) in individual capacity on anyone or survivor basis, (or)
- (d) on behalf of a minor as father/mother/legal guardian
- a Hindu Undivided Family.
- Can NRIs invest in these RBI Bonds? – No
- Where / How to buy Govt of India Savings Bonds?
- One can buy these bonds from State Bank of India, other nationalized banks and some private sector banks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
- Demat Provider (Open Demat Account in 10 minutes)
- Also can buy from Authorised Agent of RBI.
- You can also write us if you want to invest
- What are the Interest payment options?
- The bond will be issued in non-cumulative form only.
- The interest on the bonds is payable semi-annually on 1st Jan and 1st July every year.
- The coupon on 1st July 2020 shall be paid at 7.15%. As these are Floating rate bonds, the interest rate will be re-set periodically (six months).
- The prevailing NSC rate is 6.8%. So, the bonds will initially be issued with 7.15% rate (6.8%+0.35%).
- The Bonds shall be repayable on the expiry of 7 (Seven) years from the date of issue. No interest would accrue after the maturity of the Bond.
- What are the Tax implications on RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds?
- The interest income is taxable as per your income tax slab rate.
- There are no tax benefits available on the invested amount.
- Tax deducted at source (TDS) will be applicable if interest from this instrument earned is more than Rs 10,000 in a financial year.
- Is pre-mature withdrawal possible?
- Premature redemption shall be allowed for specified categories of senior citizens.
- The Bonds will be issued in Demat form only (Bond Ledger Account).
- The Bonds are not be transferable. Also, these are not tradeable in the secondary market.
- These bonds are not eligible as collateral for loans from banks, financial Institutions and Non Banking Financial Companies, (NBFC) etc.
Should you invest in RBI Floating Rate Savings Bonds 2020?
- If you are a senior citizen and looking for a periodic / secured income option (do note that interest income will not remain fixed), this is a decent choice. But, do note that Senior Citizen Savings Scheme currently offers better interest rate and you can also have a look at another option i.e, new Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY).
- If you are not a senior citizen but looking for a ‘secured income’ option with a time-frame of around 7 years, you can consider saving some portion of your investible surplus in this Bond Scheme. Currently the bank FDs and time deposits offer interest rates of around 6% for a tenure of 5+ years.
- Kindly note that interest income on Savings Bonds is taxable (so post-tax yield can be low) and lack of liquidity can be a major draw-back.
- Post-tax returns = Pre-Tax returns * { (100-Tax Rate) / 100 }
I have shared videos for Senior Citizen Investments option pls view Video for more clarity.
