Term insurance policies are crafted to replace you financially in the case of your unfortunate absence. The pandemic made health scares and human mortality real, raising concerns about family financial security. This increased demand for term insurance plans, leading to multiple providers offering customisable policies with riders.
ICICI Prudential, a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential Plc, is the country's leading private life insurer. Renowned for its reputation, it offers a flagship policy, ICICI Pru iProtect Smart, known for its comprehensive coverage and customisable options with various riders.
However, when choosing a term insurance plan, you must consider all the features, terms and conditions, and exclusions listed in the plan. This will help you understand if the plan is best suited for you. So, let’s explore the ICICI Pru iProtect Smart policy in detail and determine if it's a worthy purchase!
Quick Verdict on ICICI Pru iProtect Smart
This is a decent pick as a vanilla term insurance policy combining beneficial and value-worthy riders like waiver of premium, critical illness riders, and accidental death benefit. The plan is affordable, offers a range of plan variants and extends diverse payout choices.
As a term insurer, ICICI Prudential is popular and credible. The insurer’s affordability in plans, diversity in financial products, decent CSR and ASR and low complaint volume indicate its overall good performance.
ICICI Pru iProtect Smart Plan : Brief Overview
ICICI Prudential, founded in 2000, is among India's top 3 largest private life insurance companies. With
- An average (of 3 years) Amount Settlement Ratio of 92.1% (industry average = 90.9),
- An average (of 3 years) Claim Settlement Ratio of 97.09% (industry average = 97.74%), and
- An average (of 3 years) complaint volume of 14.3 (industry average = 72.8)
-this insurer has undoubtedly earned credibility over affordable policies, a diverse portfolio of term products, and a no-hassle claim settlement process.
Heads Up: It takes an average person up to 5 hours to read & analyze a policy, and 10 hours or more to compare different plans and make a decision.
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Accordingly, the iProtect Smart policy, a popular term insurance product, offers versatile payout modes, various riders, unlimited sum assured, unique benefits for women, and diverse policy payment options. It is comprehensive, affordable, and available in four benefit options: Life, Life Plus, Life and Health, and All In One. It offers coverage for 34 critical ailments.
Here’s a quick look at some of its most highlighted features and details.
Features of ICICI Pru iProtect Smart
| FEATURES | DETAILS |
|---|---|
| Variants | Life | Life Plus | Life and Health | All In One |
| Coverage | No such capping (depends on the underwriters and your eligibility) |
| Policy payout options | Lump sum | Income | Income plus Lump Sum | Increase Income |
| Entry age | 18 years |
| Documents required for the purchase | PAN Card, Latest Photograph, Permanent or Current Address Proofs, Income Proof, Other life insurance policy information (if any), and COVID vaccination dates and certificates |
| Available Riders | Waiver of Premium in case of accidental disabilities | Accidental death benefit | Critical illness rider |
Should You Buy ICICI Pru iProtect Smart?
- ICICI Prudential as an insurer: ICICI Prudential is currently one of the most popular insurance providers in the market. The affordability quotient in their plans, including a variety of riders, excellent claim settlement, and an annual business number of ₹15,380 crores have added to its credibility.
While the insurer also offers multiple ULIP options, considering we don’t recommend combining investment and protection under a single financial umbrella tool, we haven’t taken up those policies. We believe a term insurance plan, a pure financial protection tool, is best kept separate from the high risks of investment in stock markets or mutual funds. Moreover, in the case of the latter, despite there being high chances of return on your investment, the amount is subject to market fluctuations.
2. Income-based eligibility: Term insurance plans involve a substantial payout. Subsequently, term insurance providers are cautious and stringent about the eligibility criteria required to opt for a policy. One such eligibility criterion is the potential policyholder’s income.
In the case of ICICI Pru iProtect Smart, irrespective of your income slab, you can always opt for this plan. However, based on the income slab, there is a cap on the maximum insurance amount that you can opt for -
| Annual Income Slab | ICICI Pru iProtect Smart maximum sum assured |
|---|---|
| Less than ₹5 lakhs | ₹50 lakhs |
| More than ₹5 lakhs |
|
3. Surrender Benefits: Say you are a 60-year-old who purchased a term insurance policy in your early 20s. For some reason, you don’t want to continue with the policy anymore, although you had opted for this protection cover till you are 65 years old. In that case, some insurers (ICICI Prudential included) offer to return you the premium paid. This is called the Surrender Benefit, and in the case of ICICI Pru iProtect Smart, this is an in-built feature requiring no extra payment from your end.
However, there are specific terms and conditions for this perk -
- The minimum tenure, in this case, is
| Age of the policyholder | Minimum Tenure |
|---|---|
| 18-34 years | Till the policyholder is 65 years |
| 35 years or above | 31 years |
And you have to hold the policy for this long before you decide to surrender the policy.
- The minimum cover amount has to be ₹60 lakhs.
- The exit age: 26th year onwards
- The policyholder’s age should be at least 60 years when exiting the plan.
- The policyholder cannot exit from the plan during the last 5 years of their tenure.
4. In-Built Features: Apart from the Surrender Benefit, ICICI Pru iProtect Smart also offers you two other perks as an in-built feature, requiring no additional charges -
- Terminal Illness Benefit: If you are diagnosed with a terminal ailment and your doctor declares that you have a poor prognosis with a few months to live, the insurer disburses the sum assured as a lump sum amount to be used at your discretion.
- Life Stage Benefits: This add-on is a by-default addition to your plan, wherein, during significant life events like
- marriage (50% of the sum assured or ₹50 lakhs, whichever is lower),
- childbirth (25% of the sum assured or ₹25 lakhs, whichever is lower) for up to 2 kids,
the insurer will provide you with the option to boost your coverage amount. In the case of ICICI Pru iProtect Smart, this Life Stage Benefit perk is capped at ₹1 crore. However, please inform the insurer about such requirements within 6 months of the event.
5. Benefit Variants: The ICICI Pru iProtect Smart policy comes with 4 benefit variants -
a. Life: In this case, the policyholder has two perks -
- Death Benefit: If the policyholder passes away, the nominee receives the death benefit. Also, in case the policyholder is diagnosed with a terminal illness, ICICI Prudential disburses the sum assured to be used at the discretion of the patient and their family.
- Waiver of Premium: If you are diagnosed with Permanent Disability (PD) following an accident, the future premiums towards your policy will be waived.
b. Life Plus: In this variant, apart from the perks of the Life variant, you also have -
- Accidental Death (AD) Benefit: If the policyholder passes away due to an accident during the term of the Accidental Death Benefit, a lump sum (maximum up to ₹2 crore) is disbursed by the insurer to the nominee.
However, this perk comes with a fixed term period. In case an accidental death occurs after this term, no benefit is offered.
c. Life and Health: In this variant, as policyholders, you enjoy the perks of the Life variant and -
- Accelerated Critical Illness Benefit: Under this perk, you are covered against 34 critical ailments. Suppose you are diagnosed with any of these listed critical illnesses. In that case, the insurer pays you a lump sum amount deducted from the total Death Benefit. The maximum amount is capped at ₹1 crore.
Once the critical ailment benefit is paid out and the death benefit gets reduced proportionately, you will pay lesser premiums towards your reduced cover amount.
d. All In One: Under this variant, apart from the perks received under the Life option, you are also covered for Accidental Death Benefits and Accelerated Critical Illness Benefits.
| Plan | Death Benefit (Including terminal illness benefit) | Waiver of Premium on Disability | Accidental Death Benefit | Critical Illness Benefit | Tax Benefits under Section 80C | Tax Benefits under Section 80D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Life Plus | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Life and Health | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| All In One | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
6. Policy Payout Options: ICICI Prudential terms the iProtect Smart policy as a “Life Continuity plan” since it offers flexibility in death payout options. You can choose any of the options as per your family's predicted financial requirements for the future. The provided options include -
- Lump sum: In case of the policyholder's death, the entire sum assured is offered as a lump sum to the nominee.
- Income: This involves the yearly/monthly disbursal of the sum assured. The amount disbursed depends on - your income and the income tenure you choose. Here’s how it’s calculated -
| Income Tenure | Yearly % of Death Benefit offered | Monthly % of Death Benefit offered |
|---|---|---|
| 10 years | 10 | 0.83 |
| 20 years | 5 | 0.41 |
| 30 years | 3.33 | 0.28 |
You can consider this an advance on your death benefit paid out yearly or monthly. You can also choose to avail of the 1st year’s income as a lump sum and then opt for monthly instalments for the rest of the death benefit payout. In this case, there will be a slight difference (from what has been mentioned above) in the monthly % of payouts offered.
- Lump sum and income: With this option, the payout combines lump sum payment and income-based instalment payment. During the plan purchase, the insurer will require you to choose what share of the death benefit you want to avail of as a lump sum. The rest is paid over monthly/yearly instalments (per the above table).
- Increasing income: The death benefit is paid out over monthly instalments for 10 years. For the 1st year, the payout will be 10% of the death benefit. For the following years, the income amount will grow by 10% (simple interest).
7. Unique benefits for women policyholders: With the ICICI Prudential iProtect Smart policy, women policyholders can enjoy twofold perks -
- Lower premiums towards the overall policy
- Coverage for additional critical ailments like cervical cancer and breast cancer.
8. Available riders: While the standard ICICI Prudential iProtect Smart plan is efficient and appealing for policyholders, the options for riders in the policy further its customisation potential. Here is a look at the riders offered under this plan -
- Waiver of Premium in case of accidental disabilities
- Accidental death benefit of up to ₹2 crores
- Critical illness rider of up to ₹1 crore
What’s Unique About the ICICI Pru iProtect Smart?
ICICI Prudential iProtect Smart is an excellent pick with supreme levels of customisation of 4 benefit variants that combine riders. The plan also offers a critical illness rider against 34 listed ailments. While the plan has no unique features, combining all its perks makes it a great option as a vanilla term insurance plan.
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Conclusion
ICICI Prudential iProtect Smart is a term insurance policy for pure financial protection. It combines riders tailored to meet diverse medical and financial needs. Despite capped riders, the assigned amounts are substantial. Add to this the benefit payout options and the benefit variants - and you have a financial product that is supremely customisable as per your financial goals and requirements.
