Life Insurance Council (LIC) recently conducted a survey across 40 cities with more than twelve thousand people to understand the Indian audience’s perception towards life insurance. This survey is aligned with LIC’s new public awareness campaign “Sabse Pehle Life Insurance” which positions life insurance as a top priority for the earning members of the family.

This campaign represents the joint efforts of 24 Indian life insurance companies working towards a common goal of increasing life insurance awareness in the country, which is one of the most under-insured populations in the world.

The survey findings indicated high awareness, and that people of all age groups across India consider life insurance as an important financial instrument. Most of the respondents highlighted the following reasons why they believed it is necessary to purchase life insurance – Protection in an unforeseen event, financial security for the future and achieving collective financial goals of the family.

Of the total respondents, 71% were already secured owners of life insurance or were keen to buy one. In fact, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant increase has been witnessed among people opting for life insurance. However, there is still a gap and a need to raise awareness about the importance of purchasing life insurance. While 91% of the people consider it a necessity, only 70% are willing to invest in the same.

The west market findings highlighted that a large group of young adults and millennials were not only aware of life insurance but are also, willing to invest in it. The mindset of investing wealth was already dominant as 45% respondents in the west invest in equity and shares, this was the highest amongst all the zones. The west market has also shown relatively high ownership of life insurance.

The high ownership in cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune etc. in the west is also because of the 92% people that believe Life Insurance is a necessity for them. This is also reflected in the 80% people’s willingness to recommend Life Insurance to friends and family as compared to the average 76% across the country. Recommendations play a vital role in the decision-making process for any investment, especially something as long term as Life Insurance.

“We conducted this survey to primarily understand the perception, awareness and familiarity about life insurance among Indian audience. Our aim is to ensure that every earning member of an Indian family makes life insurance as a top priority, to secure a safe and healthy future for his or her family. We understand that care and responsibility go together, and we wish to safeguard this mindset and educate Indians so that we can offer the best life insurance solutions” said Mr. SN Bhattacharya, Secretary General, Life Insurance Council.

Additionally, several interesting trends emerged from the findings indicating how people are much more aware about the importance of life insurance:

* Among all other the financial instruments – Life Insurance has near universal awareness levels with around 96% as compared to mutual funds (63%) or equity shares (39%)

* The importance of Life Insurance as a financial instrument largely remained the same across age groups and both males and females

* More people above the age group of 36 years own life insurance than youngsters

* Half of the respondents prefer buying Life Insurance from an Insurance Agent while three in 10 prefer banks

* Younger audiences prefer to purchase Life Insurance policies through online channels, which enables them to compare multiple offerings, benefits, and premiums

* Approximately half (47%) of the total respondents claimed that they or someone in their family holds a Life Insurance and knows a lot about it.

The survey also revealed that Life Insurance investment has a perception of being long-term in nature as well as expensive – these are the top two barriers for adoption. The Life Insurance Council with this survey and its “Sabse Pehle Life Insurance” campaign aims to not only to educate towards the importance of life insurance but also to eradicate malpractices that misguide people about the category and products. It is critical that people perceive life insurance in the right light for a safer, better future for themselves and their families.

* The report was commissioned in partnership with Hansa Research

* The sample size included audiences between the ages of 25-55 years

* The cities were divided amongst 8 metro cities, 9 tier one cities and 23 tier two cities

* The study surveyed over 12000 respondents

“The Life Insurance Council is constituted under Sec.64C of Insurance Act 1938, is the face of the Life Insurance Industry that connects the various stakeholders of the industry. It functions together with participation of all the Life Insurers through several sub-committees towards the development of the industry. The Life Insurance Council leads the advocacy effort on the industry’s behalf before the Regulator (IRDAI), Govt of India and all other statutory bodies.”