Better To Be Safe Than Sorry

About 90 lakh women bought insurance and paid first-year premium worth 29,800 cr in 2017-18.

- Nirmala Konjengbam

With women becoming financially independent and homemakers being considered as equal contributors, the need to cater to their specific requirements with regards to financial planning and protection is becoming more relevant today. It is expected that percentage of women workforce in India will grow further from the current 24 per cent, reflecting on financial products too, including insurance.

Kolkata-based Subarna Das, 28, said, “Financial planning without insurance is incomplete. Apart from securing myself, I also get tax benefits on my life insurance premium. Background knowledge of finance and insurance enabled me to decide the right financial plan on my own.”

Insurance companies are well aware of this fact and to take advantage of this demographic shift, many of them are designing women-focused or women-only life and health insurance plans, which have many takers.

According to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) annual report, as many as 90 lakh women bought insurance and first-year premium worth 29,800 crore was paid by them in 2017-18. This is a significant improvement owing to the fact that in the previous decade the numbers were somewhat abysmal.