A recent survey by SBI Life Insurance showed that 78% of the Indians feel that life insurance is extremely important in overall financial planning process.
Realizing this importance of insurance, 46% purchased health insurance and 44% purchased life insurance for the first time during COVID-19.
But although Indians feel insurance is important, they still seem to be under insured with as their insurance cover is nearly 3.8 times of their annual income which is not even close to recommended 10X or 25X of their annual income.
SBI Life commissioned the survey with NielsenIQ (India), reaching out to 5,000 respondents across 28 key cities.
“The widespread impact of the pandemic has changed the way in which consumers buy insurance or other financial products. Health, safety and financial immunity are now people’s topmost priorities,” said G Durgadas, President – Zone III, SBI Life Insurance.
He further added, “While we have seen an increase in insurance awareness since the outbreak of pandemic, there are still some gaps which need to be fulfilled, as huge of number of people are still not adequately insured. The good news is, that consumers have begun to understand the essentiality of having a strong financial immunity and its benefit in the long run, which will help build financial protection safeguards for the family.”
The top three worries for Indians during this tough time are:
(1) Rising medical/ treatment cost
(2) Instability of Jobs
(3) concerns around Health of family/self
The survey also shows that 3 out of 4 Indians have increased their saving/ investing since January 2021 & 50% of them plan to invest in savings/investments/insurance.
At the same time, 70% of the Indians strongly feel that life cover should keep on increasing when prominent life milestones are achieved.
Meanwhile, 57% of the Indians feel ‘Financial Immunity’ is equal to ‘Being financially secure and stable.’
