Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance was founded in 2000 as a collaborative venture of India’s Aditya Birla Capital and Canada’s Sun Life Financial Inc. The brand has gained wide popularity owing to its brand name and offerings of various financial products, including - Endowment plans, term insurance policies, ULIPs, child plans, critical illness policies, retirement policies, and more.
Aditya Birla Sun Life has accurately gained its reputation as a credible life insurer, considering its exceptional numbers across Claim Settlement Ratio, Amount Settlement Ratio, and complaint numbers. Currently, the insurer is one of the best in the life insurance industry.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Exceptional Claim Settlement Ratio | Very few term insurance plan options |
| Great Amount Settlement Ratio | |
| Low complaint numbers | |
| Affordable policies |
Metrics of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer
Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance maintains an average business volume of ₹5,967 crores over the past three years (2020-2023) and boasts a robust nationwide policyholder base. Although not topping the industry charts in business volume, the insurer impresses with its diverse portfolio of financial products.
Among the insurer's term insurance plans, Saral Jeevan Bima and DigiShield stand out as popular options. These comprehensive, affordable, and feature-rich policies offer substantial financial protection with a significant sum assured upon the policyholder's death.
However, before assessing the worthiness of these term insurance policies, it's crucial to evaluate the credibility of the provider, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance. To ensure accuracy, we've analysed various metrics, including the average of the last three years, to gauge operational efficiency consistency against industry standards.
Claim Settlement Ratio of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer
One of the first metrics to consider when choosing a life insurance provider is its Claim Settlement Ratio, or CSR, provided by the IRDAI over its annual analysis. The CSR of an insurer is given by -
(Total number of claims settled / Total number of claims filed to the insurer over a year) * 100.
So, say, an insurer settles 95 of the 100 claims raised to the insurer in 2023. The insurer’s CSR stands at 95%. However, CSR fails to account for the time involved in settling claims by the insurer. In any case, an insurer with a CSR of greater or equal to 97% is good to go. On the other hand, insurers with a CSR of less than 80 or more than 100 are not credible enough to be approached.
| Years | Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 98.04% | 97.49% |
| 2021 - 2022 | 98.07% | 97.50% |
| 2022 - 2023 | 98.12% | 98.34% |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 98.08% | 97.74% |
Insight: Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance has one of the highest CSRs in the industry and surpasses the industry average. However, what is most important is that the insurer has maintained its consistency across exceptional CSR numbers over the years. This makes it an excellent insurer to approach for your term insurance plan.
Amount Settlement Ratio of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer
What if your insurer is being smart and rigging the CSR by paying off claims with smaller sum assured options while ignoring claims requiring larger amounts? That is not a credible insurer; and in such cases, the CSR might be a misleading metric.
Under such circumstances, you need to look into the brand’s Amount Settlement Ratio or ASR, which is given by calculating -
(The total amount of claims settled in a year by an insurer / Total amount of claims received by the insurer for the year) * 100.
If you are looking for a credible insurer, one with an ASR of 90% and above is a great pick. This ensures that your insurer is settling claims irrespective of the amount of sum assured involved in the payout. It also indicates that your insurer can be trusted with the significant sum assured because when the time comes, they won’t delay your claim statement or reject it (unless there is an exception or term and condition involved).
| Years | Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2020 | 92.4 | 90.8 |
| 2020 - 2021 | 93.2 | 91.2 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 96.2 | 90.6 |
| Average (2019 - 2022) | 93.9 | 90.9 |
Insight: Aditya Birla Sun Life has an exceptional ASR as an average over the last 3 years and has managed to keep its consistency good over the years, beating the industry average each year. Staying consistent across ASR is difficult if you consider the pandemic that turned tables for almost all the term insurance providers with the, unfortunately, skyrocketing fatalities that led to larger payouts than ever. However, Aditya Birla Sun’s numbers reveal its consistent credibility and speak volumes about why its policyholders are loyal to the brand.
Complaint Volume of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer
Term insurance policies are crafted to act as your financial substitute during your unfortunate absence. The amount obtained as a death payout is thus often significant and in crores. Subsequently, when choosing a provider for such policies, you will need an insurer who settles claims quickly and hassle-free because the last thing your nominee and family require is a delayed or rejected claim when they are already dealing with a major emotional setback.
Ensuring this can only be possible if you look at the complaint volume of the insurer per 10,000 claims. The lower the complaint volume, the better the insurer since most complaints stem from issues with claim settlement.
| Years | Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 11.0 | 67.6 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 6.2 | 76.5 |
| 2022 - 2023 | 4.0 | 65.3 |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 7.1 | 72.8 |
Insight: Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance has one of the lowest complaint volumes in the industry, and that is an excellent sign for its existing and potential policyholders. Moreover, the insurer’s complaint volume numbers have improved over the years. This indicates that the insurer has improved significantly regarding its overall operational proficiency and prioritising its client experience.
Offered Riders in Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer’s Term Insurance Plans
Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance offers multiple term insurance plans to its policyholders. While most of the policies are comprehensive as stand-alone plans, the insurer also provides riders to ensure the customisation of the product to suit the diverse financial goals of its clients.
Here is a look at some of the riders offered by Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance for a couple of popular term insurance policies -
| Riders available | DigiShield | Saral Jeevan Bima |
|---|---|---|
| Waiver of Premium | ✔ (in the case of Critical Illness or Disability) | ✘ |
| Accidental Death Benefit / Accidental Death Benefit Rider Plus | ✔ | ✔ |
| Critical Illness In-benefit/ Rider | ✔ (42 ailments covered) (Accelerated Critical Illness Benefit is a minimum of ₹5 lakhs and a maximum of 50% of the base sum assured, up to ₹50 lakhs) | ✘ |
| Income Benefit on Accidental Disability Rider | ✘ | ✘ |
| Personal Accident Cover | ✘ | ✘ |
| Cancer Cover | ✘ | ✘ |
| Total and Permanent Disability Rider | ✘ | ✘ |
| Hospi Care Benefit | ✔ | ✘ |
| Top-Up | ✘ | ✘ |
Term Insurance Plans Offered by Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurer
- DigiShield
This is one of the most popular term insurance policies from the stable of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance. The DigiShield policy offers 10 plan options based on your financial goals and requirements and multiple death benefit payout modes. The plan also has an in-built terminal illness cover along with a few riders that help customise it as per your requirements -
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Waiver of Premium: If you are diagnosed with any of the 42 listed critical ailments or are left disabled due to any illness or accident, the insurer waives off any future premiums you must pay to keep your policy active. This is a value-worthy rider since, under such circumstances, your income source will most likely be compromised, and it will become cumbersome to pay off the premiums. Instead, you can use the amount to fund various household requirements.
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Accidental Death Benefit /Accidental Death Benefit Rider Plus: In case the policyholder passes away due to an accident, under the -
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Accidental Death Benefit Rider - The beneficiary receives 100% of the rider sum assured and the death benefit (base sum assured).
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Accidental Death Benefit Rider Plus - Along with the Accidental Death Benefit feature (rider sum assured + base sum assured), the nominee also receives a full refund of the premiums (plus interest) paid by the policyholder from the day of the accident till the day of their death.
- Critical Illness In Built Benefit and Rider: The insurer has listed 42 ailments and categorised them as critical illnesses. If you avail of the Critical Illness Benefit during inception and are diagnosed with either of these 42 ailments, the insurer will pay you a lump sum (from the base sum assured) to be used at your discretion. This sum assured has a range of ₹5 lakhs to a maximum of 50% of the base sum assured. The capping on this benefit is ₹50 lakhs.
If you opt for the Critical Illness Benefit Rider (you can choose only one), you will get the payout benefit for 4 of the listed critical illnesses.
- Hospi Care Benefit: If you are hospitalised for more than 24 hours for a medically required procedure in India, the insurer will pay you a lump sum amount to be used at your discretion (treatments, transportation, etc.).
While we would have preferred to see a few more riders in the plan, the DigiShield policy is still comprehensive (considering its in-built Return of Premium perk and Life Stage Benefit features) and quite affordable.
- Saral Jeevan Bima
Saral Jeevan Bima is the most basic term insurance policy offered by Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, providing coverage of ₹5 lakhs to ₹25 lakhs. The policy only extends -
- A death benefit payout in the event of the policyholder’s death and
- A single rider - Accidental Death Benefit. Under this rider, if the policyholder passes away due to an accident, the nominee receives an additional sum assured and the death benefit (base sum assured). The insurer also returns any premium (with interest) paid by the policyholder from the time of the accident till the date of their death.
Conclusion
Aditya Birla Sun Life offers a range of term insurance policies - from basic plans to heavily customisable plans with a host of features. Moreover, the insurer takes pride in its exceptional metrics that prove its credibility. So, you can always go ahead with this provider as your term insurer. However, say you are looking for more options across comprehensive term insurance plans and more value-worthy riders at competitive prices. In that case, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance may have a few competitors you can check out before you finalise upon this life insurer.