Bhubaneshwar: Max Life Insurance, one of India’s leading private life insurers, today unveiled that 78% of Bhubaneshwar owns life insurance, making it one of the more insured cities in the country. As per the ‘India Protection Quotient’ survey conducted by Max Life and Kantar IMRB, Bhubaneshwar stands at a Protection Quotient of 36 out of 100, just at par with the national average of 35 for urban India. This three-dimensional survey determined policyholders’ level of financial preparedness to face future uncertainties, by studying their life and term insurance awareness, ownership and primary fears, preferences and triggers when purchasing policies.V Viswanand, Deputy Managing Director, Max Life Insurance said: “By virtue of Bhubaneshwarbeing an emerging IT and education hub, the city ranks at par on the life insurance protection and knowledge index of our ‘India Protection Survey’.This rapidly developing city has outperformed other leading cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc., in life insurance uptake.Surprisingly, 50% of those insurance owners have term insurance, which is the highest compared to any other city in the country. Having said that, there is definitely scope to increase the number of insured individuals in Bhubaneshwaras term insurance is the cheapest and most fundamental form of financial protection. We’re certain that the survey’s compelling findings will help bring about change in the underlying attitudes and overall behavior of people around life insurance.” Bhubaneshwar performs well on life insurance protection quotient and knowledge indexWhile the Protection Quotient (the degree to which one feels protected and mentally prepared for future uncertainties on a scale of 0-100) for urban India stands at a modest 35, protection quotient of East of India stands at a relatively poorer 33.However, Bhubaneshwar’s protection quotient of 36 is more aligned with the national average and ranks the city superior on the scale in comparison to other cities such as Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune, etc.Additionally, with a knowledge index score of 40, Bhubaneshwar’s level of awareness of insurance as a category was found to be slightly higherthan that of the country.Term insurance ownership of 40% of the total respondents in the city highest in the country, 64% of the population aware of its benefitsAgainst the national average of 65% life insurance ownership, the survey revealed the East India owns lesser life and term insurance (72% and 24%, respectively) when compared to south (74% and 24%), but more in comparison to the west (57% and 16%) and north (59% and 22%) zones of the country.78% of Bhubaneshwar’s population owns life insurance, making it one of the more insured cities in the country. Surprisingly, term insurance ownership makes up 40% of total respondents, twice as much the national average. Term insurance awareness also stands at a high of 64% indicating that the education hub is far ahead in comparison to India’s awareness level of term insurance.City not financially prepared to deal with critical illnesses¬¬16% of the city’s population believes there will be no one to support them financially if they were to be diagnosed with a critical illness, which is why 40% of the population owns term insurance. However, only 1% realized that critical illness can prey upon the family, whereas 54% have not even thought about it.54 % of Bhubaneshwar feel that their savings would last less than a year if critical illness was to befall and 46% in the eventuality of death. About 16% of the city’s population feels they have no one to support them in the event of critical illness and 22% feel no one would support in the eventuality of death.The insurance gap between men and women in East India remains notable, saving patterns similarIn urban India, the ownership of life insurance and term insurance is lower in females as compared to males. While 59% of women as against 68% men in urban India own life insurance policies and only 19% women are term insurance owners in comparison to 22% men. The survey also pointed at a massive life insurance gap among the men and women of East India. While 67% women own life insurance as compared to 74% males, term insurance ownership among women in the region is also a higher 27% as compared to 23% men who own term plans. The savings objectives of women in the region are also being mostly concentrated, where close to 71% women save for kids’ education and 44% save for kids marriage, only 62% men save for kids education and 35% save for kids marriage. Contrary to other regions, savings for financial future, old age security a priority for millennials in East IndiaThe survey found that Urban Indian Millennials in the age group of 25 – 30 years are seen to spend on travel, luxury, with nearly 43% not even thinking of protection of their families. Only 44% of youth are aware of term insurance and just 17% own it. It was found that an alarming 22% of urban Indian youth do not even consider buying a life insurance policy due to other investments that they have. However, In East India, the young prioritize protection. Millennials in the region spend more on saving for old age security (67%) or to provide for family in case of medical emergencies or death of the breadwinner (49% and 41%, respectively) as against buying a car (13%) or travelling (15%). Although, only 50% of millennials in East India are aware of term insurance and just 22% own it.Financial security of family in case of death and fear of inadequacy of funds for treatment of critical illnessamong the greatest fears pushing East India to think of term insuranceThe survey revealed that for more than 50% of urban Indian the biggest fears related to the demise of the breadwinner are financial insecurity and impact on their current lifestyle. In comparison, it was found that 64% of East India’s biggest fear relate to financial security of family in the eventuality of death of the breadwinner and 62% fear the inadequacy of funds for treatment of critical illness of self or within the family.
Comments are closed.