'Ek baar aap GST dekh lo!' - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gentle nudge to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in December last year sparked the beginning of a mammoth exercise to overhaul the tangled goods and services tax regime. And the final outcome is a significantly simplified system with lower tax rates and easier compliance for businesses.
Contrary to expectations, the new business premium (NBP) of life insurance companies dropped 12.62 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in March 2023 due to an over 30 per cent drop in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India's premiums, albeit on a high base. Data released by the Life Insurance Council shows the industry racked up NBP of Rs 52,081 crore in March 2023, compared with Rs 59,608.83 crore in the year-ago period. NBP is the premium acquired from new policies in a year. It is the sum of the first-year premium and single premium, reflecting the total premium received from new businesses.
'In diabetes remission, you go below a 6.5 HbA1c without medication.' 'And this happens only when you lose 10 to 15 per cent of your body weight with a good amount of lifestyle and dietary changes, exercise and sometimes medication.' 'You have to be able to sustain your HBA1C below 6.5 for at least a year without medication to say that the patient is in remission.'
Prime Minister Modi urged the people of the country to take pride in selling and buying indigenous goods.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Term life insurance policies, and senior citizens' health insurance premium are likely to be exempted from GST as most members of a state ministerial panel favoured cutting taxes to benefit the common man, an official said on Saturday. The GoM to decide on GST on health and life insurance premiums in its meeting on Saturday decided to exempt GST on premiums paid by individuals, other than senior citizens, for health insurance with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh. However, 18 per cent GST will continue to be levied for health insurance cover of over Rs 5 lakh.
The share of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in monthly new business premium (NBP) in the life insurance sector declined to 58.50 per cent in September 2023 from 68.25 per cent in September 2022 -- a drop of 975 basis points -- owing to shortcomings in the product and distribution side of business. However, the market share saw a marginal uptick from the 57.37 per cent recorded in August this year. According to the monthly business data released for September 2023 by the Life Insurance Council, the NBP of LIC up to September 2023 stood at Rs 92,462.62 crore as compared to about Rs 1.25 trillion in the same period a year ago.
The code of market conduct is being prepared under the aegis of the General Insurance Council (a self-regulatory body of the 12 non-life insurance companies) in this regard.
Following suggestion from Minister for Roads Nitin Gadkari, Centre seeks ideas from IRDAI and General Insurance Council on feasibility of providing insurance cover for retrenchment.
Insurance industry emerged as the largest investor in the stock market during 2007-08 surpassing the foreign institutional investors, riding on the huge popularity of Unit Linked Insurance Products, according to Life Insurance Council.
The insurance regulator IRDA on Monday said it is mulling to follow the lead insurance model based on geography, which is presently followed by the banking industry known as 'lead banking model'.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDA) and non-life insurance companies are working towards setting up a pool for creating a capacity within India to underwrite risks from natural catastrophes.
Move seen as countering fund houses' plan to sell life covers.
According to the data compiled by General Insurance Council, which is not publicly available, the insurers have settled 508,334 claims amounting to over Rs 4,800 crore.
The Supreme Court of India has reprimanded the central government for failing to implement a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims. The court expressed its concern over the delay in formulating the scheme, which is designed to provide immediate medical care to accident victims within the crucial "golden hour." The court highlighted that despite a statutory provision requiring the scheme's implementation, the government has not taken any action, prompting the court to intervene. The court also criticized the General Insurance Council (GIC) for raising objections to the scheme and delaying its implementation. The court has now directed the government to notify the scheme within a week and has scheduled a hearing on the matter for May 13.
In a move that will bring cheer to health insurance policyholders, non-life insurers are finalising the contours of a new product that will have a common minimum standard cover and will be renewable and portable across companies.
As many as 121,739 claims settled by insurers so far, amounting to Rs 1,165.81 crore.
This question remains unanswered most of the time due to lack of knowledge or guidance. No more!
The sector has sought a mandatory natural catastrophe cover to cover perils in calamity-prone areas.
Insurance agents of all life insurance companies selling unit linked insurance plans will now show rate of returns ranging between 6 and 10 per cent to customers.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalisation, which convened in Goa on Wednesday, reviewed the GST rates for over 100 items, including textiles, handloom goods, agricultural products, fertilisers, and educational materials. However, no consensus was reached on any of the items, with further discussions scheduled for next month in Delhi.
In the wake of the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, the proposal for 'catastrophe insurance' is in spotlight.
Unlike other health insurance policies, which mostly covers hospitalisation expenses alone, the specialised cover is likely to include the cost of treatment during quarantine and payment of cash for incidental expenses.
The premium on insurance policies will get costlier by 3 per cent to 7 per cent, depending upon the rate fixed by the GST Council from April 1, 2017, says Harjot Singh Narula.
In the last few years, unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) have quietly become one of the largest players in the Indian stock market. With a total investment estimated at Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore, they are almost close to the investment made by equity mutual funds.
It's an undeniable fact that after enactment of GST, buying insurance will become a little expensive impacting your term plans, health plans and motor insurance plans the most. But you should not ignore the importance of insuring your life, health, vehicle, says Harjot Singh Narula
Market leaders in this line of business - New India Assurance and Tata AIG - have begun to reassess the premium on risk exposure of their portfolio in the director's and officer's liability business.
Irdai had introduced two Covid specific products in the market - Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak - that saw huge acceptance among the consumers as these products had lower premiums.
Enhertu currently costs around Rs 1.6 lakh per 100-milligram injection.
According to the action plan finalised by the General Insurance Council, the industry lobby for non-life insurers, the portable health cover will be available for a period of three years initially. Depending on the feedback in terms of claims ratio, the insurance companies will take a call on whether to extend the cover. Also, the scheme will be open to only those in the age group of 18-40.
At its heart, the issue is more than compliance. It is the risk of possible breakdown of a strong nexus between insurance firms and motor car dealers that makes the business the top earner for the former.
All costs relating to room, boarding, nursing expenses, medical consultation including telemedicine, consumables such as PPE kits and intensive care unit will be covered under the policy. It will also include the cost of treatment for any other co-morbidities, including pre-existing comorbid conditions along with the treatment for Covid-19.
Company launches claim guarantee scheme for customers.
"Earlier, India was a land of snake charmers. Now, Americans perceive Indians to be very smart. The infotech revolution changed it all," says FICCI Secretary-General Amit Mitra.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
One may now not have to wait to get their insurance claims redressed.
Govt could cut the GST rate payable every time someone buys a health insurance product; or it could also provide a larger income tax set off for those who buy a health insurance product
At a closed-door meeting with global investors, the largest asset manager in the country boasted of its nearly Rs 37 trillion assets under management (AUM) - 16.6 times that managed by the second-largest insurer SBI Life. The numbers are as of March 31, 2021. The assets of LIC are 1.2 times the net assets of the entire Indian mutual fund industry, which had AUM of Rs 31.43 trillion as of March 31, 2021 (about Rs 37.3 trillion until November this year). The standalone assets that LIC manages are equal to 18.7 per cent of India's GDP and worth more than gross domestic product (GDP) of the UAE, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand, and Pakistan.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
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