Best Life Insurance Plans for Women in India 2018-19

• Reduce taxable income by up to Rs. 1,50,000 deduction under section 80C**
• Convenient payment options - annual, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly premium payments
• Do more with plans that offer pure protection, retirement planning and investment options

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With changing times, more and more women have started to enter the general workforce, and are increasingly being employed in various sectors. Many times, women also play the role of the primary breadwinner and support various members of the family financially. Given how invaluable the role of a woman can be in providing for her family, it is a must for all women to purchase life insurance plans for themselves. Life insurance plans, in addition to providing financial security to one’s beneficiaries, can also act as a savings or investment instrument, thus helping you reach your financial goals faster.

Benefits of Purchasing a Life Insurance Plan

• Financial Protection: When you purchase a life insurance policy, you are essentially providing financial security to your dependents, regardless of what may happen in the future. Thus, if your family members depend on you financially, it is necessary to purchase a life insurance policy at the earliest. The payout provided by a policy, in case of an unfortunate eventuality, will help your loved ones meet financial milestones in their lives in a hassle-free manner.
• Increased Savings: Many life insurance products like ULIPs, endowment plans, money-back policies, etc. also serve as a savings/investment instrument in addition to providing risk protection to the policy buyer. Thus, investing in such a policy can help you increase your savings and will also help in long-term wealth creation.
• Enhanced Coverage: Many insurance providers offer a host of riders to policy buyers to help them customise their policies. Certain riders that are offered by insurance providers include the Critical Illness Rider, Accidental Death and Disability Benefit Rider, Waiver of Premium Rider, etc. These riders will provide an additional payout/benefits to the policyholder/nominee upon the occurrence of an eventuality mentioned in the rider brochure.
• Retirement Corpus: Annuity/retirement/pension plans, a type of life insurance product, helps policyholders secure their retirement by providing fixed income during one’s post-retirement years. In addition, many retirement policies also offer the policyholder a life cover during the deferment period.
• Tax Benefits: A key benefit of life insurance policies is that they also provide tax benefits to the policyholder. Thus, policyholders can avail tax benefits for premiums paid towards the policy under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Similarly, if the policy pays out any benefit, the receiver can claim tax rebates under Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act.

Life Insurance Plans for Women

All life insurance policies, including term life plans, whole life plans, ULIPs (unit-linked insurance plans), endowment plans, annuity plans, etc. can be purchased by women and men alike. Many insurance providers also offer preferential premium rates to women policy buyers. However, we have listed 2 life insurance plans that have been exclusively designed for women.

1. HDFC Life Smart Woman Plan: The Smart Woman Plan from HDFC Life is a unit-linked insurance plan that is exclusively catered to meet the needs of women. This policy offers sufficient benefits to ensure that you financially protected during the various stages of your life. This policy comes in three options – Classic, Premier, and Elite. All variants of this policy offer comprehensive coverage to the policy buyer.

Key Features of HDFC Life Smart Woman Plan:

• Policy buyers can opt for a sum assured that is up to 40 times their annualised premium.
• The benefits and payouts that will be offered to a policyholder/nominee will vary as per the plan variant opted for.
• To purchase this policy, the proposer will have to be over the age of 18 years. Women, who are to be enrolled under this policy, will have to be between 18 years and 45 years at the time of purchasing the policy.
• The minimum maturity age for policyholders is 28 years, and the maximum is 60 years.
• Policy buyers can opt for a policy tenure of 10 years or 15 years.
• The insurer offers 4 funds for policyholders to invest in.
2. SBI Life – Smart Women Advantage Plan: The Smart Women Advantage Plan from SBI Life Insurance is a participating, non-linked, endowment insurance policy. This plan provides a comprehensive life cover to the policyholder, acts as a savings tool, and also provides a critical illness benefit upon detection of a critical illness. Further, policy buyers can also purchase optional benefits that will cover childbirth related abnormalities and pregnancy complications. This policy comes in two variants – the Gold Plan and the Platinum Plan.

Key Features of SBI Life – Smart Women Advantage Plan

• The critical illnesses covered will vary based on the plan variant chosen.
• This policy provides a guaranteed maturity benefit to the policyholder upon survival till the completion of the policy term.
• For individuals diagnosed with Major Stage CI (critical illness), all future premium payments will be waived off.
• In order to purchase the base plan, policyholders will need to be between 18 years and 50 years.
• The maximum maturity age for the base policy is 60 years.
• Policy buyers will have to opt for a sum assured between Rs.2 lakh and Rs.10 lakh to purchase this policy.
• A policy term of 10 years or 15 years can be chosen by the policy buyer.

Things to Consider

Before you opt for a policy, make sure to assess your financial requirements and coverage needs. Based on your needs, you can opt for a suitable type of life insurance policy. Also, when purchasing insurance, you should compare at least a few different policies and read through the features and benefits of each policy, to find a plan that provides you sufficient coverage and is affordable.