Here is an indication that women are increasingly taking their independent financial decisions. The number of Indian females buying life insurance has seen an increase. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), in its annual report 2018-19, said that women had bought 36 percent of the 28.6 million policies sold in FY19.
In FY18, women bought 32 percent of the policies. Data showed that, out of the 10.3 million policies bought by women, one-third of the policies have come from three states including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is more trusted by women than private insurers. The proportion of policies sold by LIC is 39 percent while it is 27 percent in the case of private insurers.
In 17 states and union territories, the share in number of policies bought by women is higher than the all-India average of 36 percent.
It is also to be noted that life insurers are also working on niche insurance products for women. These products take care of specific life-stage needs of women including marriage, child-birth and menopause.
Life insurers are also of the view that the more the number of women selling policies, the better will the sales to females be.
At the end of FY19, there were 6,03,208 women working as life insurance agents. Of these, 52 percent worked for private life insurers while 48 percent worked for LIC.
Among private life insurers, Max Life had the highest percentage of women agents at 45 percent, followed by IDBI Federal Life at 41.2 percent and Star Union Dai-ichi Life at 35.9 percent.
