Postal Life Insurance can now cover more groups of employees

Life insurance behemoth, Life Insurance Corporation of India, and new-generation private life insurers had better sit up and take notice.

The Government has allowed the country’s oldest life insurer, the Postal Life Insurance, to cover more groups of people.

The Department of Posts can now offer Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) to employees engaged/ appointed on contract basis by Central/State Governments, where the contract is extendable.

Employees of joint ventures in which Central/State Government, public sector undertakings and public sector banks have a minimum 10 per cent shareholding and employees of all scheduled commercial banks can be offered life insurance cover by the Department.

Members/employees of co-operative credit societies and other co-operative societies registered under the Co-operative Societies Act and partly/fully funded by the Central/State Government, Reserve Bank of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and public sector banks can also be covered by the Department.

Further, employees of deemed universities and educational institutes accredited by recognised bodies such as National Assessment and Accreditation Council, All-India Council of Technical Education, Medical Council of India, and/or affiliated to Universities/Boards are eligible for insurance cover from

For rural population

Rural Postal Life Insurance was introduced in 1993, to provide cover to the rural population, especially those in the weaker sections and to women workers.

Insurance industry experts say that the Department of Posts, with its vast network of 1.55-lakh odd post-offices across the country, may be well-placed to meet the rural/social sector obligation under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s rules.

PLI has grown from a few hundred policies in 1884 to 50.07 lakh as on March 31, 2012. As on March 31, there were over 1.35 crore active RPLI policies.

ramkumar.k@thehindu.co.in