Postal Life Insurance is the oldest life insurer in the country, having started operations in 1884 when the Secretary of State for India under the British Government (representing the then British Monarch, Queen Victoria) gave an express approval for its set up on February 1, 1884.
Postal Life Insurance has grown significantly from a few hundred policies in the 19th century to over than 6.4 million policies in the 21st (figure as of March 31, 2015). In its initial days, the upper limit of life insurance was Rs. 4,000. This figure now stands at Rs 50 lakh due to the erosion in the real value of money over the years. you must know whole life insurance pli
Postal Life Insurance Statistics
| Year | Policies in Force (Units) | Sum Assured (Rs. Crore) | Fund Corpus (Rs. Crore) |
| 2007-2008 | 35,50,084 | 31,459.00 | 12,081.71 |
| 2008-2009 | 38,41,539 | 38,403.00 | 14,152.59 |
| 2009-2010 | 42,83,302 | 51,209.91 | 16,656.02 |
| 2010-2011 | 46,86,245 | 64,077.00 | 19,801.91 |
| 2011-2012 | 50,06,060 | 76,591.33 | 23,010.55 |
| 2012-2013 | 52,19,326 | 88,896.96 | 26,131.34 |
| 2013-2014 | 54,06,093 | 1,02,276.05 | 32,716.26 |
| 2014-2015 | 64,61,413 | 1,30,745.00 | 37,571.77 |
| 2015-2016 | 19,80,606 | 1,09,982.09 | 46,302.72 |
| 2016-2017 | 2,13,323 | 1,13,084.81 | 55,058.61 |
Postal Life Insurance Plans – Eligibility and Features
Postal Life Insurance now covers a wide range of Central and State Government employees, and other people working in public sector institutions and organisations. As of now, Postal Life Insurance covers-
| Postal Life Insurance | |
| Eligible Persons | All employees of:
|
| Non-eligible Persons | Employees in the private sector |
| Entry Age of Person |
|
| Sum Assured | Rs. 20,000 (min) to Rs. 50 lakh (max) |
| No. of Plans | There are six plans:
|
| Premium Payment Frequency | Monthly |
Read Also: Child Insurance Plan : Are you also going to take a child insurance plan, Know what things should be kept in mind?
Benefits of Postal Life Insurance
Superlative Returns: Postal Life Insurance (PLI) offers the highest coverage for policy and right bonus amount, by paying the lowest premium rates, as compared to any other insurance company in India.
Modification and Appointment of Nominee: PLI allows the appointment of a nominee for the policy. Also, the policyholder can make changes to the nominee during the policy term.
Loan facility: The facility: The policyholder is permitted to avail of a loan by assigning his/her policy to any financial institution.
Policy’s pledging: The policyholder has the option to pledge the policy to circle heads to avail a loan. The endowment assurance life assured can avail the loan facility on the completion of 3 years of the policy. This duration for the policyholder of the whole life assurance plan is of four years.
Recovery of lapsed policy: A lapsed PLI policy can be revived after six unpaid 6 consecutive premium amounts if it remained active for less than three years. If the policy is more than 3 years, the non-payment of 12 consecutive premium amounts will result in the policy loss.
Policy Conversion: The policyholder has the option to convert his/her whole life assurance policy to an endowment assurance policy. This switch can be made between different endowment assurance plans as per the pre-defined rules and regulations.
Issuance of duplicate policy papers: If the documents of the policy either get destroyed or misplaced or get damaged, then in such cases, duplicate policy documents can also be re-issued.
Multiple Policies: Policyholders can take more than one policy offered by Postal Life Insurance provided the total sum assured for each class of policies is not less than Rs. 20,000 and not more than Rs. 10 lakh
Income tax Benefits: The Postal Life Insurance plans offer tax benefits under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
