ICICI Prudential Life Insurance commenced operations in 2000 and is one of India's top 3 private life insurers. This provider came up as a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential Plc. and is a popular choice among policyholders, considering its extensive insurance track record, credibility, and association with one of the largest private banks in the country.
With an average business volume of ₹15,380 crores, ICI Prudential is a whale of an insurer offering savings plans, retirement policies, ULIPs, term insurance plans, and more. The plans are affordable (though other insurers have lower premiums) and comprehensive. ICICI Prudential is extremely well-off in terms of the riders it offers to customise its policies. While the provider has only one term insurance plan (iProtect Smart), it is one of the best in the industry.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Affordable plans | There are not many options in Term Insurance |
| Excellent Claim Settlement Ratio | |
| Great Amount Settlement Ratio | |
| Low Complaint Volume |
Metrics of ICICI Prudential Life Insurer
The increased financial awareness accompanied by the recent mortality fact-check from the pandemic has led to a massive demand across life insurance products, especially term insurance plans. Under such circumstances, while many new players have surfaced with great term policies and features, some traditional plans and insurers have remained steady and gained immense popularity. ICICI Prudential and its iProtect Smart plan belong to the latter category, with multiple policyholders who enjoy the trust extended by the insurer and the customisation offered by the policy.
While ICICI Prudential is already a big name, considering its decades of presence in the industry, we want to assess its credibility via the metrics used to determine best-term insurance providers.
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Claim Settlement Ratio of ICICI Prudential Life Insurer
When you purchase a life insurance or a term insurance plan, you are looking at a long-term financial relationship with the insurer and entrusting a significant sum as a cover amount. The last thing you would want is an issue with the claim settlement when a member of the family has passed away.
So, the first thing you need to check about the insurer is its Claim Settlement Ratio, which is a % drawn between the number of claims settled by an insurer across the year and the total number of claims filed to that insurer for the same year.
This will show you how well your insurer has settled claims for its current client pool.
(However, please remember that this is just one metric since CSR fails to reflect how much of the claim amount is being settled.)
| Years | ICICI Prudential Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 97.90% | 97.49% |
| 2021 - 2022 | 97.82% | 97.50% |
| 2022 - 2023 | 95.54% | 98.34% |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 97.09% | 97.74% |
Insight: In terms of CSR, we recommend that any life insurance provider with a CSR of 97% and above is a good pick. In those terms, ICICI Prudential makes the cut. However, if you compare it with the industry average, the numbers of ICICI are still behind. Especially considering the market credibility of the insurer, you would not want to look at declining CSR numbers over the years.
Amount Settlement Ratio of ICICI Prudential Life Insurer
Where CSR falls short: revealing the amount of claim settled by an insurer, ASR, or Amount Settlement Ratio meets the gap. Amount Settlement Ratio (ASR) is given by - (total amount of claims settled /the total amount of claims filed to the insurer over a single year) * 100
This ratio reveals the claim settlement potential of the insurer and if the insurer is partial towards settling more minor claims while ignoring or rejecting the larger ones to maintain their CSR. Any insurer with an ASR over 90 can be a good option for your term insurance plan.
| Years | ICICI Prudential Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2020 | 91.6 | 90.8 |
| 2020 - 2021 | 89.2 | 91.2 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 95.5 | 90.6 |
| Average (2019 - 2022) | 92.1 | 90.9 |
Insight: ICICI Prudential stays true to its market reputation of extending hassle-free claims, which is evident in its ASR numbers. The numbers are higher than the industry average, proving that the insurer settles claims irrespective of the cover amount. This is a good sign for policyholders. However, we would want to see a higher number, considering ICICI’s reputation and credibility.
Complaint Volume of ICICI Prudential Life Insurer
If you truly want to analyse the overall operational efficiency of an insurer, you need to look into its complaint volume. This will help you gauge the ease of claim settlement for the provider since most complaints are about claim filing, rejection, and delay. The lower the complaint volume, the better it is for the insurer and the potential and existing policyholders.
| Years | ICICI Prudential Life Insurer | Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - 2021 | 10.0 | 67.6 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 17.0 | 76.5 |
| 2022 - 2023 | 16.0 | 65.3 |
| Average (2020 - 2023) | 14.3 | 72.8 |
Insight: While the numbers in complaint volume are much lower than the industry average, ICICI Prudential’s numbers aren’t that great compared to other industry experts in the field. A number less than 10 would have been much better.
Offered Riders in ICICI Prudential Life Insurer’s Term Insurance Plans
iProtect Smart is an incredible policy that provides an extensive range of plan options, thanks to the riders offered with the policy. It is comprehensive, affordable, and one of the most popular term insurance plans.
Take a look at the available list of riders for iProtect Smart -
| Riders | iProtect Smart |
|---|---|
| Waiver of premium | ✔ (for total and permanent disabilities caused by an accident) |
| Accidental Death Benefit | ✔ (up to ₹2 crores) |
| Critical Illness rider | ✔ (up to ₹1 crore for 34 illnesses) |
| Income Benefit on Accidental Disability Rider | ✖ |
| Personal Accident Cover | ✖ |
| Cancer Cover | ✖ |
| Total and Permanent Disability Rider | ✖ |
| Hospi Care Benefit | ✖ |
Term Insurance Plans Offered by ICICI Prudential Life Insurer
ICICI Prudential has a single plan for term insurance. Though this means that you do not have options to choose from in case you are fixed on ICICI Prudential as your term insurance provider, it also means that the insurer has made this policy solid by introducing maximum features, coverage and riders. Take a look at the iProtect Smart plan's features that make it such a unique and popular product.
- iProtect Smart: This plan from the stable of ICICI Prudential caters to multiple financial goals of policyholders in the form of variants in its payouts:
- Lump sum: This is a straightforward variant in which the entire sum assured is paid out as a lump sum upon the policyholder's death.
- Income: The death benefit is paid monthly for the next 10 years. This amount depends on - your income and the income tenure you choose. This is calculated by
| 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 |
- Lump sum plus income: The payout is a combined benefit of a lump sum and the income variant. You can choose the share of the cover that you want to avail as a lump sum and the residual amount that you want in the form of a monthly payment (the calculation of the amount is as per the table above)
- Increasing Income: You receive the monthly death benefit over the next 10 years in the Increasing Income variant. For the 1st year, the amount is 10% of the sum assured; from the following year, this amount increases by 10% each year.
Apart from this, the plan also offers 4 variants based on the available combination of riders:
| Life | Life Plus | Life and Health | All In One | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waiver of Premium + Terminal Illness Benefit | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Waiver of Premium due to Disability | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Accidental Death Benefit | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Critical Illness Benefit | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 80C Tax Benefits | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 80D Tax Benefits | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
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Conclusion
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is one of the market's best picks, considering its excellent numbers across all metrics. The insurer offers a pocket-friendly term insurance plan in the form of iProtect Smart. While we would have appreciated more options across its Critical Illness Rider benefit, the policy is still comprehensive and a popular recommendation.
