We welcome you as a policyholder and as
a prospective customer to our customer
service section. This section will guide
you through the various intricacies of
a life insurance contract and the facts
that you must know to make the best out
of your life insurance policy. Please
read our guidelines immediately.
A grace period of one month but not less
than 30 days is allowed where the mode
of payment is yearly, half-yearly or quarterly
and 15 days for monthly payments. If death
occurs within this period, the life assured
is covered for full sum assured.
Non-forfeiture
regulations:
If the policy has run for atleast 3 full
years and subsequent premiums have not
been paid the policy shall not be void
but the sum assured will be reduced to
a sum which will bear the same ratio as
to the number of premiums paid bear to
the total number of premiums payable.The
concessions regarding claim in the above
case is explained in the appropriate section.
In case of untrue or incorrect statement
contained in the proposal, personal statement,
declaration and connected documents or
any material information with held, subject
to the provision of Section 45 of the
Insurance Act 1938, wherever applicable,
the policy shall be declared void and
all claims to any benefits in virtue thereof
shall cease.
The policy shall be void, if the Life
Assured commits suicide (whether sane
or insane at the time) at any time or
after the date on which the risk under
the policy has commenced but before the
expiry of one year from the date of commencement
of the policy.
After payment of premiums for at least
three years, the Surrender Value allowed
under the policy is equal to 30% of the
total premiums paid excluding premiums
for the 1st year and all extra premiums.
The rate of installment premium shown
in the schedule of the policy will remain
constant as long as the employee continues
with the employer given in the proposal.
On leaving the employment of said employer
the policyholder should intimate the Corporation.
In case of the Salary Saving Scheme being
withdrawn by the said employer, the Corporation
will intimate the same to the policyholder.
Thereafter the 5% rebate given under Salary
Saving Scheme will be withdrawn.
After the policy is issued, the
policyholder in a number of cases finds
the terms not suitable to him and desires
to change them. LIC allows certain types
of alterations during the lifetime of
the policy. However, no alteration is
permitted within one year of the commencement
of the policy with some exceptions. The
following alterations are allowed.
- Alteration in class or term.
- Reduction in the Sum Assured
- Alteration in the mode of payment
of premiums
- Removal of an extra premium
- Alteration from without profit plan
to with profit plan
- Alternation in name
- Correction in policies
- Settlement option of payment of sum
assured by installments
- Grant of accident benefit
- Grant of premium waiver benefit under
CDA policies
- Alteration in currency and place of
payment of policy monies
A fee for the change or alteration in
the policy is charged by the Corporation
called quotation fee and no additional
fee is charged for giving effect to the
alteration.
A duplicate policy confers on its owner
the same rights and privileges as the
original policy. The following are the
requirements for issuing a duplicate policy:
1. Insertion of an advertisement at the
policyholder’s cost in one English
daily newspaper having wide circulation
in the State where the loss is reported
to have occurred. A copy of the Newspaper
in which the advertisement appeared should
be sent to the servicing office one month
after its appearance. If no objection
has been lodged with LIC regarding the
policy in question, a duplicate policy
will be issued after complying further
requirements, i.e., Indemnity Bond and
payment of charges for preparing duplicate
policy and stamp fee.
2. However, the requirement of advertisement
and Indemnity Bond may be dispensed with
or modified in certain circumstances as
given below :
- loss of policy by theft
- destruction of policy by fire
- loss of policy while in custody of
an office of government
- mutilated or damaged policy
- policy in torn and a part of it is
missing
- policy partially destroyed by white
ants
The Proofs of age, which are generally acceptable
to the Corporation, are as under:
- Certified extract from Municipal or
other records made at the time of birth.
- Certificate of Baptism or certified
extract from family Bible if it contains
age or date of birth.
- Certified extract from School or College
if age or date of birth is stated therein.
- Certified extract from Service Register
in case of Govt. employees and employees
of Quasi-Govt. institutions including
Public Limited Companies and Pass port
issued by the Pass port Authorities
in India.
- Marriage certificate in the case
of Roman Catholics issued by Roman Catholic
Church.
- Certified extracts from the Service
Registers of Commercial Institutions
or Industrial Undertakings provided
it is specifically mentioned in such
extracts that conclusive evidence of
age was produced at the time of recruitment
of the employee.
- Certificate of Birth granted by Syedna
v. Molana Badruddin Sahib of Baroda
- Identity Cards issued by Defence
Department.
- A true copy of the University Certificate
or of Matriculation/Higher Secondary
Education, S.S.L. Certificate issued
by a Board set up by a State/Central
Government.
- Non- standard age proof like Horoscope,
Service Record where age is not verified
at the time of entry, E.S.I.S. Card,
Marriage Certificate in case of Muslim
Proposer, Elder’s Declaration,
Self-declaration and Certificate by
Village Panchayats are accepted subject
to certain rules.
The nominee is statutorily recognized
as a payee who can give a valid discharge
to the Corporation for the payment of
policy monies.
Nomination will be incorporated in the
text of the policy at the time of its
issue. After the policy is prepared and
issued and if no Nomination has been incorporated
the assured can ordinarily affect the
nomination only by an endorsement on the
policy itself. A nomination made in this
manner is required to be notified to the
Corporation and registered by it in its
records. A nomination is not required
to be stamped.
Any change or cancellation of nomination
should be given in writing only by the
Life Assured.
Nomination under Joint Life Policy can
only be a joint nomination. Nomination
in favour of a stranger cannot be made
as there is no insurable interest and
moral hazard may be involved. Nomination
in favour of wife and children as a class
is not valid. Specific names of the existing
wife and children should be mentioned.
Where nomination is made in favour of
successive nominees, i.e., nominee “A”
failing him to nominee “B”
failing whom nominee “C”,
the nomination in favour of one individual
in the order mentioned will be considered.
Where the nominee is a minor, an appointee
has to be appointed to receive the monies
in the event of the assured’s death
during the minority of the nominee. No
nomination can be made under a policy
financed from HUF funds.
In the case of first endorsement of nomination
the date of registration of nomination
will be the date of receipt of the policy
by the servicing office and in case of
any other nomination or cancellation or
change thereof, the date of receipt of
the policy and/or of notice whichever
is later, will be the date of registration.
An assignment has an effect of
directly transferring the rights of the
transferor in respect of the property
transferred. Immediately on execution
of an assignment of the Policy of life
assurance the assignor forgoes all his
rights, title and interest in the Policy
to the assignee. The premium/loan interest
notices etc. in such cases will be sent
to the assignee. In case the assignment
is made in favor of public bodies, institutions,
trust etc., premium notices/receipts will
be addressed to the official who has been
designated by the institutions as a person
to receive such notice
An assignment of a life insurance policy
once validly executed, cannot be cancelled
or rendered in effectual by the assignor.
Scoring of such assignments or super scribing
words like 'cancelled' on such assignment
does not annul the assignment. And the
only way to cancel such assignment would
be to get it re-assigned by the assignee
in favor of the assignor.
There are two types of assignments:
1. Conditional Assignment
whereby the assignor and the assignee
may agree that on the happening of a specified
event which does not depend on the will
of the assignor, the assignment will be
suspended or revoked wholly or in part.
2. Absolute Assignment
whereby all the rights, title and interest
which the assignor has in the policy passes
on to the assignee without reversion to
the assignor or his estate in any event.
Status of your policy indicates if your
policy is in force or has lapsed due to
non-payment of premium. It also provides
other important information with respect
to your policy, for your reference.
1. If the policyholder has paid premiums
for atleast 3 full years and subsequently
discontinued paying premiums, and in the
event of death of the life assured within
six months from the due date of the first
unpaid premium, the policy money will
be paid in full after deduction of the
unpaid premiums, with interest upto date
of the death.
2. If the policyholder has paid premiums
for atleast 5 full years and subsequently
discontinued paying premiums and in the
event of death of the life assured within
12 months from the due date of first unpaid
premium, the policy money will be paid
in full after deducting the unpaid premiums,
with interest upto date of the death.
Revivals:
If the premium under a policy
is not paid within the days of grace the
policy lapses. Revival is a fresh contract
wherein the insurer can impose fresh terms
and conditions. A policy can be revived
under the following types of revival:
1. Ordinary Revival
If a revival of the policy is effected
within 6 months from the due of first
unpaid premium no personal statement regarding
health is required and the policy is revived
on collection of delayed premium plus
interest. The rate of interest to be charged
for such delayed premium will depend on
the date of commencement of the policy.
2. Revival on non-medical basis
For revival of the policy on non-medical
basis the amount to be revived should
not exceed the prescribed limit for non-medical
assurance taken by the life assured.
3. Revival on medical basis
If a policy cannot be revived under ordinary
revival or revival on non-medical basis
it can be revived with medical requirements.
The medical requirements will depend upon
the amount to be revived.
4. The other schemes for revival are
A. Special Revival Scheme
B. Revival by installment
C. Loan- cum- revival
D. Survival Benefit- cum- revival
The Corporation can grant a loan to the
policyholder against his policy as per
the terms and conditions applicable to
the policy. The requirements for granting
a loan are as under :
a) Application for loan with an endorsement
of terms and conditions of the loan being
placed on the policy.
b) Policy to be assigned absolutely in
favour of the Corporation
c) A receipt for the loan amount
The maximum loan amount available under
the policy is 90% of the Surrender Value
of the policy (85% in case of paid up
policies) including cash value of bonus.
The rate of interest charged on loans
is at 9% to be paid half-yearly.
The minimum period for which a loan can
be granted is six months from the date
of its payment. If repayment of loan is
desired within this period the interest
for the minimum period of six months will
have to be paid.
In case the policy becomes a claim either
by maturity or death within six months
from the date of loan interest will be
charged only upto the date of maturity/death.
The settlement of claims is a very important
aspect of service to the policyholders.
Hence, the Corporation has laid great
emphasis on expeditious settlement of
Maturity as well as Death Claims.
The procedure for settlement of maturity
and death claims is detailed below :
1) In case of Endowment type of Policies,
amount is payable at the end of the policy
period. The Branch Office which services
the policy sends out a letter informing
the date on which the policy monies are
payable to the policyholder at least two
months before the due date of payment.
The policyholder is requested to return
the Discharge Form duly completed along
with the Policy Document. On receipt of
these two documents post dated cheque
is sent by post so as to reach the policyholder
before the due date.
2) Some Plans like Money Back Policies
provide for periodical payments to the
policyholders provided premium due under
the policies are paid up to the anniversary
due for Survival Benefit. In these cases
where amount payable is less than up to
Rs.60,000/-, cheques are released without
calling for the Discharge Receipt or Policy
Document. However, in case of higher amounts
these two requirements are insisted upon.
The death claim amount is payable in case
of policies where premiums are paid up-to-date
or where the death occurs within the days
of grace. On receipt of intimation of
death of the Life Assured the Branch Office
calls for the following requirements:
a) Claim form A – Claimant’s
Statement giving details of the deceased
and the claimant.
b) Certified extract from Death Register
c) Documentary proof of age, if age is
not admitted
d) Evidence of title to the deceased’s
estate if the policy is not nominated,
assigned or
issued under M.W.P. Act.
e) Original Policy Document
The following additional forms are called
for if death occurs within three years
from the date of risk or from date of
revival/reinstatement.
a) Claim Form B – Medical Attendant’s
Certificate to be completed by the Medical
Attendant of the deceased during his/her
last illness
b) Claim Form B1 – if the life assured
received treatment in a hospital
c) Claim form B2 – to be completed
by the Medical Attendant who treated the
deceased life assured prior to his last
illness.
d) Claim Form C – Certificate of
Identity and burial or cremation to be
completed and signed by a person of known
character and responsibility
e) Claim form E – Certificate by
Employer if the assured was employed person.
f) Certified copies of the First Information
Report, the Post-mortem report and Police
Investigation Report if death was due
to accident or unnatural cause.
These additional forms are required to
satisfy ourselves on the genuineness of
the claim, i.e., no material information
that would have affected our acceptance
of proposal has been withheld by the deceased
at the time of proposal. Further, these
forms also help us at the time of investigation
by the officials of the Corporation.
Double Accident Benefit is provided as
an inject to the life insurance cover.
For this purpose an extra premium of Rs.1/-
per Rs.1000/- S.A is charged. For claiming
the benefits under the Accident Benefit
the claimant has to produce the proof
to the satisfaction of the Corporation
that the accident is defined as per the
policy conditions. Normally for claiming
this benefit documents like FIR, Post-mortem
Report are insisted upon.
Disability benefit claims consist of waiver
of future premiums under the policy and
extended disability benefit consisting in
addition of a monthly benefit payment as
per policy conditions. The essential condition
for claiming this benefit is that the disability
is total and permanent so as to preclude
him from earning any wage/compensation or
profit as a result of the accident
The Corporation settles a large number of
Death Claims every year. Only in case of
fraudulent suppression of material information
is the liability repudiated. This is to
ensure that claims are not paid to fraudulent
persons at the cost of honest policyholders.
The number of Death Claims repudiated is,
however, very small. Even in these cases,
an opportunity is given to the claimant
to make a representation for consideration
by the Review Committees of the Zonal office
and the Central Office. As a result of such
review, depending on the merits of each
case, appropriate decisions are taken. The
Claims Review Committees of the Central
and Zonal Offices have among their Members,
a retired High Court/District Court Judge.
This has helped providing transparency and
confidence in our operations and has resulted
in greater satisfaction among claimants,
policyholders and public.
- The Grievance
Redressal Machinery has
been further expanded with the appointment
of Insurance Ombudsman at different
centers by the Government of India.
At present there are 12 centres operating
all over the country.
- Following type of complaints fall
within the purview of the Ombdusman
a) any partial or total repudiation
of claims by an insurer;
b) any dispute in regard to premiums
paid if payable in terms of the policy;
c) any dispute on the legal construction
of the policies in so far as such disputes
relate to claims;
d) delay in settlement of claims;
e)non-issue of any insurance document
to customers after receipt of premium.
- Policyholder can approach the Insurance
Ombudsman for the redressal of their
complaints free of cost.
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