Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance commenced operations in 2001 as a joint venture between two well-known financial brands- Bajaj Finserv (NBFC) and Allianz SE. Over the last two decades, the company has grown significantly, with an average (of the previous 3 years) annual business volume of ₹8,729 crores. This popularity can be attributed to the parent sponsors and their credibility in the Indian financial market and to the vast portfolio of financial products offered by Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, including savings plans, retirement policies, ULIPs, and term insurance plans.
The company has built its reputation as a credible life insurer over its excellent Claim Settlement Ratio, great Amount Settlement Ratio and low complaint volume. Plans offered by Bajaj Allianz are moderately priced and have a host of riders that further the customisation angle on the products to meet the customised financial goals of policyholders.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent Claim Settlement Ratio | Term insurance plans are less comprehensive than we would expect. |
| Low complaint volume | |
| Great Amount Settlement Ratio | |
| An excellent line-up of riders available for term insurance policies |
Metrics of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer
While Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance offers a vast range of financial products, we will focus primarily on its term insurance plans because they are considered the safest bets in the insurance sector, considering their affordable premiums, no risk factor, and high cover amount. Term insurance policies are crafted to act as a financial substitute in the case of the policyholder’s death. The sum assured offered under the term plan (also called Death Benefit) helps families fulfil their financial goals for the future in the absence of the policyholder.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance offers multiple term insurance plans, of which the 3 most popular are - e-Touch, Smart Protect Goal, and iSecure. While these policies each have their own set of pros and cons, all the policies have a targeted client pool, are affordable, and offer customisations over multiple riders.
However, before delving into the details of these term insurance policies, we must determine if Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is a credible insurer who can be trusted with a significant coverage amount. To resolve this, we have taken up a few popularly known metrics, drawing an average of the last 3 years (to get an idea about the insurer’s consistency in performance) and tallied it against the industry average and the ideal range.
Claim Settlement Ratio of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer
An insurer's Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR) is calculated as follows: it is the total number of claims settled by the insurer in a year divided by the total number of claims raised to the insurer in the same year, multiplied by 100. This ratio measures the insurer's credibility, reflecting how efficiently they fulfil their claim obligations.
A high CSR, typically 97% or above, signifies a credible provider, indicating that the insurer consistently settles most of the claims received. Conversely, insurers whose CSR falls below 80% or exceeds 100% cannot be trusted as credible providers.
An insurer with a CSR exceeding 100% may suggest issues such as delayed claim settlements from previous years being added to the current year's claim count, potentially indicating inefficiencies or a backlog in processing claims. Thus, it’s best to stay clear of such insurers.
| Years | Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 98.48% | 97.49% |
| 2021 - 2022 | 99.02% | 97.50% |
| 2022 - 2023 | 99.06% | 98.34% |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 98.85% | 97.74% |
Insight: The CSR numbers for Bajaj Allianz have been consistently exceptional despite the pandemic and/or any other external factors. This is an excellent sign for potential policyholders considering Bajaj for their term insurance plan. However, this is just one metric to determine the credibility of an insurer. So, let’s look at other factors to reach a credible conclusion.
Amount Settlement Ratio of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer
Purchasing a term insurance policy is a significant financial move because the amount involved is substantial. Secondly, the sum assured is crafted to act as your financial replacement in the case of your unfortunate absence. Hence, you are looking for an insurer who holds credibility in settling claims without any hassles. To determine this aspect of an insurer, you need to look at its Amount Settlement Ratio (ASR), which is given by -
(total amount of claims settled /the total amount of claims filed to the insurer over a single year) * 100
The ASR of an insurer will help you analyse if your insurer is just settling multiple minor claims and ignoring high-amount claims to up its CSR.
| Years | Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2020 | 93.6 | 90.8 |
| 2020 - 2021 | 92.0 | 91.2 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 93.5 | 90.6 |
| Average (2019 - 2022) | 93.0 | 90.9 |
Insight: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance’s ASR has stayed above 90% across the last 3 years, indicating that the insurer settles valid claims regardless of the cover amount for the policies. Additionally, the insurer’s ASR number surpasses the industry average as well (for each year). Combined, Bajaj Allianz is a good pick as a term insurance provider.
Complaint Volume of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer
When picking a term insurance provider, you must look into the complaint volume (per 10,000 claims filed) of the provider. This will give you an insight into the claim settlement experience of the existing policyholders. Since most complaints stem from delayed or rejected claim settlements, the complaint volume metrics perfectly indicate the insurer’s claim settlement intent and potential.
| Years | Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 5.7 | 67.6 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 3.9 | 76.5 |
| 2022 - 2023 | 5.6 | 65.3 |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 5.0 | 72.8 |
Insight: That Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is a good pick as a term insurance provider is evident from its complaint volume. The brand holds one of the lowest complaint numbers in the industry. This speaks volumes about the overall operational efficiency of the provider. As a potential policyholder, this is encouraging since you want an insurer offering a hassle-free claim settlement process/experience.
Offered Riders in Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer’s Term Insurance Plans
While most of the term insurance plans offered by Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance are comprehensive as standalone policies, the need for customisation is a common requirement among policyholders. Thus, these plans come with value-worthy riders that redesign the policies to suit your tailored financial requirements -
| Riders available | e-Touch | Smart Protect Goal | iSecure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiver of Premium | ✅ (in the case of Total and Permanent Disability and terminal ailments) | ❌ | ✅ (in the case of Total and Permanent Disability and critical ailments) |
| Accidental Death Benefit | ✅ Upto ₹2 crore | ✅ Upto ₹2 crore | ✅ |
| Critical Illness Rider | ❌ | ✅ 55 illnesses Upto ₹50 lakhs | ❌ |
| Income Benefit on Accidental Disability Rider | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Personal Accident Cover | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cancer Cover | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Total and Permanent Disability Rider | ❌ | ✅ Upto ₹1 crore | ✅ (partial disability is also covered) |
| Hospi Care Benefit | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Top-Up | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Term Insurance Plans Offered by Bajaj Allianz Life Insurer
- e-Touch
The e-Touch plan from Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is one of the most popular term plans from this stable. While the policy lacks a few crucial features, it offers
- Extremely affordable premiums (one of the lowest in the industry),
- Extensive coverage of a maximum of ₹50 lakhs or ₹10 crores (depending on your income slab),
- 3 variants - Life Shield, Life Shield Plus, and Life Shield Return of Premium
- Various combinations of features and riders - Death benefits, Terminal illness, Waiver of Premium, Accidental Death Benefit Rider, and Return of Premiums - based on your chosen variant.
Unfortunately, a significant drawback of the policy is that the plan doesn’t offer any Critical Illness (CI) cover either as a built-in feature or as a rider. Considering the importance of this rider, this is a significant hurdle. However, if you are looking for an affordable term insurance policy and do not require the CI rider - this is a great pick.
- Smart Protect Goal
This popular term insurance plan from the Bajaj Allianz stable offers coverage until you are 99 years old. The Smart Protect Goal plan has 4 variants: Life Coverage, Child Education Extra Cover, Life Cover With Joint Life, And Increasing Cover. The central focus of the variants is to tweak your policy sum assured payout and amount as per the changing financial requirements.
The variants provide riders including - Critical Illness Benefits, Accidental Death Benefits, Waiver of Premium Benefits on CI, and Accidental Total Permanent Disability Benefits. Additionally, there is no upper limit to the offered cover amount. It depends on the underwriting’s decision about your eligibility.
- iSecure
This is a vanilla term insurance plan offering payout (equal to the base sum assured) to the nominee on the policyholder's death. The plan also provides an option of joint life cover wherein you and your spouse are primary and secondary policyholders with separate sum assured. The plan offers a few riders - Waiver of Premium, Accidental Death Benefit, and Total/Partial and Permanent Disability Rider.
Now, the plan has a minimum and maximum sum assured of ₹25 lakhs to ₹50 lakhs and no critical illness payouts. However, the plan is affordable, and if you are looking for a lower coverage amount (calculate your ideal term insurance coverage using our free calculator), this may be an option.
Conclusion
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is a credible insurer offering multiple options across term insurance. However, while the insurer is a great pick and the plans are economical when choosing a term insurance policy from this provider, it would be best to shop around more and compare term plans before finalising. You may find similarly priced plans with more features that are essential and required when covering your family’s financial future. And in case you are loyal to the Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance brand and want to go ahead with a term plan from this stable - Smart Protect Goal might be the best choice as it offers multiple riders (including the Critical Illness add-on).