Life Insurance : Important news for life insurance customers. Now they will have to pay more for paying premium.Â
Those who have Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and Postal Life Insurance (PLI) policies will be required to pay Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges while making online payment of insurance premium with effect from January 17, 2022. The Department of Posts has announced this on January 18, 2022.
The Department of Posts has said in the notification that no MDR payment will be made to the authorized banks and their PG / PGA from the government portal. All MDR rates will be paid by the customer/card holder.
Necessary orders are being implemented for PLI/RPLI online premium payment transaction. From now on the MDR rate will be paid by the customer/card holder, wherever applicable for online PLI/RPLI premium payment transaction. This order has become effective from 17 January 2022.
What is MDR
MDR is a fee charged to a merchant by their issuing bank for accepting payments from their customers through credit and debit cards. Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) was introduced on March 24, 1995 for rural communities in India.
According to Malhotra committee, in 1993 only 22% of the insurable population of the country was insured which was only 10% of the total life insured assets.
According to the website, the main goal of the scheme is to provide coverage with a focus on weaker sections and women workers in rural areas as well as enhance insurance knowledge among the rural population.
What is PLI
PLI (postal life insurance) was first implemented on February 1, 1884. It began as a postal worker social program and was later expanded to include telegraph department employees in 1888.
