Life insurance and the importance of proper disclosures
This will inspire more consumer trust, and enhance transparency among agents
Rethinking Financial Management for Low income Households
The paper starts by revisiting existing literature on the financial lives of LIHs that shows that they manage their finances in a rather sophisticated manner. This can be traced to the radical uncertainty they face, which includes a “triple whammy” of income problems and expenditure shocks that are frequent and unique to their circumstances.
The Case for Good Disclosures – Building A Two-Way Road Towards Suitable Insurance Sale
Insurance is a hard sell anywhere in the world, but more so in developing countries like India, with a population that is predominantly low-income and largely informal. Life insurance, in its current form, came to India through the Europeans (1818) and was slowly Indianized. However, it was the nationalisation of life insurance and the state backing provided to the Life Insurance Corporation of India
Why customer protection is central to financial inclusion
India needs a robust and comprehensive financial customer protection regime, which it currently lacks. Imagine the following scenario. Raja and Rani are a low-income householder couple with two children in elementary school. They also take care of Raja’s ailing mother. The household’s monthly income is ₹20,000.
Insuring Low-Income Households- Why disclosure matters
In this deck, we discuss some factors influencing life insurance take-up, the problem with endowment life insurance for the low-income segment, and how better disclosures could be the first step in helping households choose the right insurance product for them.
Tackling customer protection issues in life insurance for low-income households
Insurance companies should align their sales practices to generate the best outcomes for low income households by ensuring easy access to a variety of products with disclosures that provide accurate information.
Workshop on Life Insurance for Low-Income Households
This blog post summarises key takeaways from a virtual workshop we recently hosted. It was conducted against the backdrop of a study that we recently concluded titled “Can information disclosures influence life insurance purchase decisions for low-income households?”.
A Review of Life Insurance Distribution in India Regulatory Design of Distribution Channels and Incentive Structures
Large gaps exist in life insurance coverage in India. The paper examines this issue through a supply-side lens by examining the two key features—the distinction between the agent and the broker model and the alignment of incentive structures with product life-cycle servicing.
Why endowment plan, a traditional life insurance scheme, is part of most household finances
Unlike term plans that provide life risk cover or unit-linked schemes, where returns are market-linked, endowment plans offer maturity benefits upon survival & minimum guaranteed return.
Can information disclosures influence life insurance purchase decisions for low-income households?
There are several reasons for low take-up of life insurance policies in general and specifically low take-up of term life insurance. These factors range from supply side barriers such as misaligned incentive structures for agents selling life insurance policies, lack of availability and accessibility to a larger suite of life insurance products customized to the needs of low-income households to demand-side barriers such as household’s contextual factors that limit their awareness and priority for a life insurance product and their behavioural preferences pertaining to life insurance products.
