The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the government is looking to significantly increase the insurance coverage in the country to 40-50% of the population, compared to 20% currently, using the plans launched under the social security initiative a fortnight ago.
This is the first time that the government had set a target of sorts for the three social security plans, which includes life insurance, accident cover and a pension scheme. The schemes come at nominal premium with the life cover premium pegged at Rs 330 a year, while the accident insurance policy costs Rs 12 annually with both providing coverage of Rs 2 lakh each.
The schemes have been a runaway success with over 7.6 crore opting for them since they were launched a fortnight ago. A vast majority - 5.8 crore -- have opted for the accident insurance policy, while 1.8 crore has so far bought the life cover. Till, May 20, the Atal Pension Yojana had found 78,600 takers, data on the government website showed.
The government acknowledged that pension would be the slowest-moving product with life insurance demand expected to pick up in the coming weeks.
With 11 per cent of population having pension plans, the Atal Pension Yojana wants to "make India into a far bigger pensioned society", Jaitley told a news conference.
He cited the social security drive as a major government initiative and said that unlike several governments in the past, the Narendra Modi government did not wait to push such policies on the eve of elections.
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