Term insurance witnessed an uptake in the last two years, with ownership rising to a significant 43% from 39% last year. The survey also reflects an increased ownership of other life-insurance products amongst urban Indians such as savings and market-linked plans.
New Delhi:
With increasing immunization coverage and a growing positive outlook beyond Covid-19, the ‘Protection Quotient’ of urban India has moved 3 points to 50, witnessing a gradual rise from previous Indian Protection Quotient (IPQ) editions, according to a survey -India IPQ- done by Max Life Insurance in partnership with Kantar.
The trend line reflects a steady growth in the country’s overall financial protection that has led to prioritizing financial security over all aspects, said the the fourth edition of the IPQ released today.
Term insurance witnessed an uptake in the last two years, with ownership rising to a significant 43% from 39% last year. The survey also reflects an increased ownership of other life-insurance products amongst urban Indians such as savings and market-linked plans.
The survey indicates a marginal increase in urban India’s knowledge index from 68 to 69, while the security index increased by 5 points to 56%. Metros, Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities also witnessed an increase in the protection index, while Tier 2 saw a significant rise in life insurance awareness from 61 to 68. This indicates a strong potential in Tier 2 markets for life insurance adoption.
Some of the findings of the survey are-more than half of urban Indians feel their term plan cover is insufficient; cover/sum assured, riders and customization become key term purchase parameters, millennials at par with non-millennials in term ownership, women at par with men in protection index, significant increase among women in security levels, Salaried segment notes improvement across all key indices, self-employed witnesses fall in term insurance ownership
Commenting on the launch of IPQ 4.0 survey, Prashant Tripathy,, managing director and CEO, Max Life Insurance said, “The last two years have been indeed challenging due to the pandemic, but we also witnessed an upside with India developing financial resilience. This is evident from the insights in IPQ 4.0 that show a strong sense of financial security amongst urban Indians.”
He further added, “Despite the positive movement, the survey also indicates key challenges for the industry that need to be addressed. While India has realized the real value of term insurance, existing barriers are limiting efforts to drive increased awareness and adoption till the last mile. The IPQ study will help us create customer-centric measures to resolve these issues, while enabling collective responsibility to build a higher level of trust with customers.”
Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director and CCO, Kantar Insights, South Asia remarked on the findings of the survey, “India has financially evolved. The one key outcome that emerges from the survey, is the significant increase in security levels of the urban milieu. Despite the unprecedented impact of Covid-19, this is an important indication of the growing financial consciousness in the country. .”
Conducted entirely online, the India Protection Quotient 4.0 surveyed 5,729 respondents across 25 Indian cities [between 10 December 2021 to 14 January 2022], making this one of the most comprehensive financial studies carried out during the recent wave of Covid-19.