SBI Life Insurance Child Plan: All Plans Listed [May 2026]

Q: What are the projected returns of the SBI Life Smart Future Star Plan?

As per the Smart Future Star brochure , a 35-year-old parent paying ₹50,011 annually for 10 years under a 20-year policy term with a ₹6.32 lakh sum assured may receive around ₹7.12 lakh at a 4% assumed return and about ₹13.19 lakh at an 8% assumed return. These figures are only IRDAI-mandated illustrations and not guaranteed payouts. Actual maturity value depends on the bonuses declared by SBI Life. Since the total premium outgo in this example is ₹5,00,110, buyers should compare the effective long-term return against other investment options before choosing the plan.

Overview

SBI Life offers specialized child insurance plans tailored to secure your child’s higher education, marriage, and other financial milestones. These plans operate on a dual mechanism which combines a systematic wealth accumulation with a waiver of premium Benefit. SBI Life Insurance Child Plan offers flexible payouts and tax benefits. Key options include SBI Life Smart Platina Young Achiever, Smart Future Star, and Smart Scholar Plus.

Smart Platina offers guaranteed payouts, Smart Future Star adds bonus-linked growth, while Smart Scholar Plus provides market-linked wealth creation through 10 fund options. However, at Ditto, we do not recommend Child education plans or plans that combine insurance and wealth accumulation, as both tend to underperform when mixed together. This guide is ideal for those who wish to explore how SBI child plans work.

With the average expenditure on course fees in urban areas estimated at ₹15,143 per student, planning early for your child’s future has become essential. As education costs continue to rise over time, many parents look for dedicated financial products that can help build a future corpus in a structured manner. SBI Life child insurance plan combines savings, protection, and long-term wealth creation to help parents prepare for rising education and milestone expenses.

In this guide, we break down child plans by SBI Life, their features, and if they are a good fit for your family's needs.

What Is an SBI Life Insurance Child Plan?

Child plans by SBI Life Insurance are designed to help parents build a dedicated financial corpus for their child’s education, higher studies, and future milestones.

Most child insurance plans in the market keep the parent as the life assured, since the earning parent is the financial risk being covered. However, SBI Life Smart Platina Young Achiever and Smart Future Star are unique in that regard because the child is the life assured.

This distinction is important because it determines how the policy responds if something happens to either the parent or the child. While no parent buys a child plan expecting a death benefit on the child’s life, the structure affects policy benefits and how the final payout is handled.

Did You Know?

Child plans are not a separate insurance category. Most are simply ULIPs or traditional savings plans, such as endowment plans, designed specifically to help parents build a dedicated corpus for their child’s future financial goals.

Features of an SBI Life Child Insurance Plan

Protection for the Child’s Future

SBI child plans include an in-built waiver of premium benefit, helping the child’s financial goal continue even if the parent dies or suffers a disability.

Disciplined Long-Term Savings

These plans encourage structured investing for education and future milestones, reducing the likelihood that parents will interrupt savings midway.

Multiple Return Options

SBI offers guaranteed, bonus-linked, and market-linked child plans, allowing parents to choose based on their risk appetite and financial comfort.

Flexible Maturity Payouts

Benefits can support education, marriage, or career goals through lump sum or milestone-based payouts aligned with the child’s future needs.

Detailed Review of Popular SBI Life Insurance Plans

1. Smart Platina Young Achiever

SBI Life Insurance Smart Platina Young Achiever is an individual, non-linked, non-participating child savings insurance plan. In this policy, the child is the life assured, while the parent, grandparent, or legal guardian acts as the proposer and policyholder. The policy offers flexible settlement options and guaranteed additions.

Key Features:

Guaranteed Maturity Benefit: If the policy stays active till maturity, the child receives the sum assured on maturity along with accrued guaranteed additions.
Waiver of Premium Benefit: If the proposer dies or suffers accidental total permanent disability during the premium payment term, future premiums are waived while the policy continues uninterrupted for the child.
Child Death Benefit: If the child dies during the policy term, the insurer pays the higher of the sum assured on death plus accrued guaranteed additions or 105% of total premiums paid.

Eligibility Criteria

Parameter	Criteria
Sum Assured	₹3.5 lakh with no upper cap (subject to underwriting)
Proposer’s Entry Age	18 years to 65 years
Child’s Entry Age	30 days to 15 years
Child’s Age at Maturity	18 years to 35 years
Policy Term	15 to 25 years
Premium Payment Term	7/10 years
Premium Payment Frequency	Yearly, half- yearly, and monthly

2. Smart Future Star

SBI Life Insurance Smart Future Star is a participating plan which is designed to create long-term savings for a child’s future goals. It includes an in-built waiver of premium benefit linked to the proposer’s life.

Key Features

Maturity Benefit: If the child survives till policy maturity, the plan pays the sum assured on maturity along with vested reversionary bonuses and terminal bonus, if declared.
Waiver of Premium Benefit: If the proposer dies or suffers accidental total permanent disability during the premium payment term, future premiums are waived while the policy continues for the child.

Eligibility Criteria

Parameter	Criteria
Sum Assured	₹4 lakh with no upper cap (subject to underwriting)
Proposer’s Entry Age	18 years to 65 years
Child’s Entry Age	30 days to 15 years
Child’s Age at Maturity	18 years to 35 years
Policy Term	15 to 25 years
Premium Payment Term	7/10/12 years
Premium Payment Frequency	Yearly, half- yearly, and monthly

3. Smart Scholar Plus

SBI Life Insurance Smart Scholar Plus is an individual, unit-linked, non-participating child savings insurance plan and comes with a mandatory 5-year lock-in period. The plan offers 10 different fund options and includes loyalty additions and maturity benefits. You also receive premium waiver and accidental benefits.

Key Features

Market-Linked Investment: Premiums are invested in market-linked funds chosen by the policyholder. The final maturity value depends on how these funds perform over the policy term.
Death Benefit: If the life assured (parent) dies during the policy term, the higher of sum assured or 105% of total premiums paid is paid immediately. Future premiums are waived, and the policy continues for the child.
Partial Withdrawals & Fund Switching: Partial withdrawals are allowed from the 6th policy year. The plan also allows fund switching and premium redirection flexibility.

Eligibility Criteria

Parameter	Criteria
Parent’s Entry Age	18 years to 50 years
Child’s Entry Age	0 days to 17 years
Maturity Age	The child can receive maturity benefits between ages 18 and 25, while the parent or life assured can remain covered up to a maximum age of 65 years
Policy Term	8 to 25 years
Premium Payment Term	Single pay, regular pay and limited pay
Premium Payment Frequency	Single, yearly, half- yearly, quarterly and monthly

Note: Such child plans neither offer enough life cover nor adequate returns which is why some parents prefer to separate insurance and investments rather than combine both within a child plan. If you prefer SBI Life, you can explore term plans like Smart Shield Plus.

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Premium Illustration and Payout Structure

In this illustration, a 35-year-old person purchases a child plan for her 3-year-old child with an annual premium of ₹50,011. The premium is payable for 10 years, while the policy continues for a total term of 20 years. Over the policy duration, the total premium outgo amounts to ₹5,00,110, and the plan provides a sum assured of ₹6,32,000.

Maturity Benefit

Benefit Component	At 4% Assumed Return	At 8% Assumed Return
Sum Assured on Maturity	₹6,32,000	₹6,32,000
Vested Reversionary Bonus (If Declared)	₹69,520	₹5,49,840
Terminal Bonus (If Declared)	₹10,428	₹1,37,460
Total Lumpsum at Maturity	₹7,11,948	₹13,19,300

Note: The illustrated figures are derived from the Smart Future Star policy brochure. Actual figures depend on the sum assured, age, and insurer’s underwriting policy. The maturity value in this illustration translates to an estimated net annualized return of about 2.3% at the 4% scenario and around 6.4% at the 8% scenario.

The net return is lower than the illustrated growth rates because a portion of the premium goes towards insurance costs and policy expenses instead of being fully invested. For long-term goals such as higher education, a net return of 2.3% may struggle to keep pace with inflation, while 6.4% may still fall short of the returns many investors seek over a 15–20 year horizon.

SBI Life Insurance also offers a Child Education Planner to estimate future education funding needs. However, it should be treated only as a planning tool. The final choice should depend on affordability, liquidity, risk appetite, waiver benefits, charges, flexibility, and overall long-term suitability.

Is SBI Life Insurance the Right Choice for Your Child?

SBI Life Child Plans can suit parents who want disciplined long-term savings, structured milestone-based payouts, and financial continuity for their child’s future goals, even if something happens to the earning parent.

However, parents primarily focused on maximizing long-term returns or minimizing costs may find a simpler approach more efficient. At Ditto, we believe the first priority should be securing adequate life cover through the best term insurance plans available for the parent.

After that, options like low-cost mutual funds, Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), or other goal-based investments may offer greater flexibility, lower costs, and potentially better long-term wealth creation.

Take a look at the infographic to get an idea of how a child plan compares with a separate investment in term insurance and PPF.

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Conclusion

SBI Life Child Plans can suit parents who want structured savings with milestone-based payouts and waiver-of-premium protection for the child’s future. They work best for families seeking disciplined long-term planning through guaranteed, bonus-linked, or market-linked options.

Those exploring SBI Life Insurance plans may first consider Smart Shield Plus or Smart Shield Premier to secure adequate life cover for the earning parent. Once the protection need is addressed, the child's education or future corpus can be built separately through investment options such as mutual funds, PPF, SSY (for a girl child), or other goal-based investments. This approach keeps insurance and wealth creation separate, often resulting in higher life cover, greater flexibility, better liquidity, and potentially stronger long-term outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an SBI Life Insurance child plan, and how does it work?

SBI Life child plans are insurance-linked savings products designed to help parents build a dedicated corpus for future goals such as higher education or marriage. In these plans, the parent usually becomes the proposer and premium payer, while the child is linked as the beneficiary. SBI Life currently offers Smart Platina Young Achiever, Smart Future Star, and Smart Scholar Plus. A major feature of these plans is the built-in waiver of premium benefit. If the earning parent dies or suffers accidental total permanent disability during the premium payment term, future premiums are waived, and the policy continues for the child’s benefit.

What are the three main SBI Life child insurance plans available in 2026?

SBI Life offers three major child plans in 2026, each suited for a different risk profile. Smart Platina Young Achiever is a guaranteed-return child plan that provides fixed maturity benefits and guaranteed additions. Smart Future Star is a traditional participating plan in which the maturity value depends in part on bonuses declared by SBI Life over time. Smart Scholar Plus is a market-linked ULIP child plan that invests premiums across 10 fund options. Together, these plans give parents a choice between guaranteed stability, bonus-linked growth, and long-term market-linked wealth creation.

What is the waiver of premium benefit in SBI Life child plans?

The waiver of premium benefit is one of the most important features in SBI Life child plans. If the proposer, usually the earning parent, dies or suffers accidental total permanent disability during the premium payment term, the insurer waives all future premiums. Even though premiums stop from the family’s side, the policy continues normally, and the child still receives the planned maturity benefit. In Smart Scholar Plus, the insurer continues funding future premiums while the ULIP investments remain active until maturity.

What are the projected returns of the SBI Life Smart Future Star Plan?

As per the Smart Future Star brochure, a 35-year-old parent paying ₹50,011 annually for 10 years under a 20-year policy term with a ₹6.32 lakh sum assured may receive around ₹7.12 lakh at a 4% assumed return and about ₹13.19 lakh at an 8% assumed return. These figures are only IRDAI-mandated illustrations and not guaranteed payouts. Actual maturity value depends on the bonuses declared by SBI Life. Since the total premium outgo in this example is ₹5,00,110, buyers should compare the effective long-term return against other investment options before choosing the plan.

What is the SBI Life Smart Scholar Plus plan, and who is it for?

SBI Life Smart Scholar Plus is a ULIP-based child insurance plan designed for parents who want market-linked long-term wealth creation for their child’s future goals. Premiums are invested across 10 available fund options depending on the policyholder’s chosen risk profile. The plan has a mandatory 5-year lock-in period, and partial withdrawals are allowed only from the sixth policy year onward. It also includes an inbuilt accidental death and total permanent disability benefit for limited and regular pay variants. This plan suits parents comfortable with market volatility and looking for potentially higher long-term growth over a long investment horizon.

How does SBI Life Smart Platinum Young Achiever differ from the other child plans?

SBI Life Smart Platina Young Achiever is the most conservative among SBI Life’s child plans because it offers guaranteed maturity benefits that are not linked to stock markets or insurer-declared bonuses. Guaranteed additions accumulate from the first policy year itself, based on the selected premium amount and payment term. The child becomes life assured, with an entry age ranging from 30 days to 15 years. Maturity payouts can be deferred for up to 7 years or taken in installments. This plan mainly suits parents who prioritize certainty and low investment risk over potentially higher but uncertain market-linked returns.

Should I buy an SBI Life child plan or a term insurance plus PPF combination?

At Ditto, we generally recommend securing adequate term insurance for the earning parent before investing in any child insurance plan. A pure term plan can provide significantly higher life cover at a much lower cost. Alongside that, options like PPF offer sovereign-backed returns, tax benefits, and greater flexibility without policy-related charges. For parents of a girl child, the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana can be an attractive alternative, offering government-backed returns, tax benefits, and a dedicated savings framework for long-term goals. This combination keeps insurance and investments separate, which often improves both protection efficiency and long-term wealth creation.

What are the eligibility criteria for SBI Life Smart Platinum Young Achiever?

SBI Life Smart Platina Young Achiever allows proposers aged 18 to 65 to purchase the policy. The child, who becomes life assured, can enter between 30 days and 15 years of age, while the maturity age ranges from 18 to 35 years. The policy term ranges from 15 to 25 years, with premium payment terms of 7 or 12 years. Premiums can be paid annually, half-yearly, or monthly. The minimum sum assured starts at ₹3.5 lakh, with higher limits subject to underwriting approval. Guaranteed additions accrue every year from the first policy year itself.

What are the 5 most important questions to address before buying a child plan?

Before buying a child plan, ask five simple questions. First, is your term insurance cover adequate to protect your family if something happens to you? Second, is the maturity benefit guaranteed, bonus-linked, or market-linked? Third, what is the expected net IRR after factoring in all charges and policy costs? Fourth, what happens if you stop paying premiums midway, and will the policy continue with reduced benefits? Finally, does the maturity date align with your child’s actual education or milestone needs? These questions often reveal whether a child plan truly fits your financial goals.

What are the tax benefits of a ULIP?

There are three major ULIP tax benefits under the current income tax rules. First, premiums paid may qualify for a deduction of up to ₹1.5 lakh per financial year under Section 80C if you opt for the old tax regime. Second, maturity proceeds can be tax-free under Section 10(10D), provided the aggregate annual premium across eligible ULIPs does not exceed ₹2.5 lakh and other applicable conditions are met. Third, the death benefit paid to nominees is fully tax-exempt under Section 10(10D). Since tax rules can change, it is advisable to verify the latest provisions before investing.

Last updated on: 3 Jun, 2026