TATA AIA vs Max Life Insurance: A Quick Comparison

When it comes to life insurance policies, you entrust your insurer with a substantial amount that is supposed to kick in for your family in the event of your unfortunate absence. Given the sensitivity of the issue and the underlying responsibilities of meeting your family’s future financial goals, the last thing you want is an insurer creating unnecessary hassles during claim settlement. Thus, it is pretty evident that you would -

STEP 1: Approach some of the best term insurance providers in the market,

STEP 2: Choose the most suitable term insurance plans,

STEP 3: Compute the ideal term insurance tenure and cover,

STEP 4: Ensure that you meet all the required eligibility criteria and

STEP 5: Choose the best possible term insurance riders to help customise the plan to suit your tailored future financial requirements and current financial bandwidth.

Now, let’s talk about Step 1 - how do you determine which insurers can be considered the best life insurance providers? Well, there are quite a few determining factors - Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR), Amount Settlement  Ratio (ASR), and Volume of Complaints (occasionally, we also take into account the average annual business of a brand).

Considering these, we have listed 10 insurers who can be regarded as the best in the industry, and among them, today, we will be pitting TATA AIA Life Insurance against Max Life Insurance to find out who’s the better of the two. We will also analyse a few of their term insurance offerings to see if you should opt for them!

TATA AIA Life Insurance vs Max Life Insurance

(Please note that the data above is an average from the last 3 years, i.e., 2020 to 2023, except for the ASR, in which case we have drawn the average of data from 2019 to 2022.)

Heads Up: It takes an average person up to 5 hours to read & analyze a term life policy and 10 hours or more to compare different plans and make a decision.

This is why we propose a better alternative - taking a 30-minute FREE consultation with Ditto’s certified advisors. We have a spam-free guarantee, and we’ll never push you to buy a plan. Don’t delay this - we have limited slots every day, so book a quick call here before they run out.

TATA AIA vs Max Life Insurance: Which is Better as a Term Insurance Provider in India?

TATA AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between TATA Sons and AIA. While TATA Sons is the largest conglomerate in India, AIA is one of the largest insurers in the Asia Pacific region. Subsequently, owing to brand equity and a diverse and feature-rich product portfolio, TATA AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is one of the most famous and popular options for people seeking term insurance plans. Apart from term insurance plans, the insurer also offers ULIPs, retirement plans, and savings policies. Their product line is reputed to be affordable, with ample chances of customisation over value-worthy riders and comprehensive plans. Additionally, the insurer has an excellent reputation as a credible insurer, considering its solid client base.

Max Life Insurance was founded in 2000 by Max Financial Services and Axis Bank. Since then, the insurer has built quite the client pool based on a credible reputation and a diverse product line, including term insurance, health insurance, and investment policies (ULIPs, savings plans, etc.). Much like TATA AIA, Max Life’s term insurance plans are affordable and comprehensive and come with a host of riders.

So, as you can see, TATA AIA and Max Life have similar features and reputations across the insurance industry. Under such circumstances, the comparison of TATA AIA vs Max Life Insurance will be a close call based on the credibility metrics - CSR, ASR, Complaint Volume, and average annual business. Let’s start!

(Please note: We have used data from the last 3 years and drawn an average of the numbers. Then, we tallied the numbers against the industry average. This will help you thoroughly understand an insurer's consistency across overall performance proficiency.)

Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR)

One of the primary metrics used to determine the credibility of an insurer is its Claim Settlement Ratio or CSR. This is given by -

(The total number of claims settled by an insurer over a year / The total number of claims raised to the insurer over the year) * 100

CSR usually gives an overview of an insurance company's claim settlement track record. However, this metric is just a surface factor and can often be misleading. Now, while we would insist that your chosen insurer has a CSR of 97 and above, it can’t be the only determining metric when choosing a term insurance provider.

With this in mind, let’s make a quick comparison between TATA AIA and Max Life in terms of its CSR.

Conclusion: A quick look at the numbers shows that both insurers have matched and upped the industry average each year from 2020 to 2023. Also, both insurers have kept their CSR well above the recommended threshold of 97. However, Max Life takes the cake here by a slight margin. That said, both insurers are a great pick if you consider just their CSRs.

Amount Settlement Ratio (ASR)

This is a crucial metric when determining the credibility of a life insurance provider since it provides insight into the long-term financial sustainability of a provider. The ASR of an insurer is computed by -

(The total amount used in settling claims by an insurer over a year / The total amount collected via premiums by the insurer over the year) * 100

Term insurance policies are supposed to be long-term financial commitments. Under such circumstances, you would require an insurer with the financial stability to stand strong for a long time. This would also pave the way to a hassle-free claim settlement process when you need it. The Amount Settlement Ratio of an insurer offers a view of the future sustainability of the insurer.

Ideally, the insurer you approach must have an ASR of 90 and above. However, the higher the ASR (but less than 100), the better it is.

Conclusion: Much like CSR, in the case of ASR, both Max Life and TATA AIA also beat the industry average each year (except 2020-21 for TATA AIA). This indicates that both insurers have been doing an excellent job at maintaining their financial sustainability. However, the numbers for Max Life Insurance have been consistently good, irrespective of the pandemic, which should have taken a significant hit at its ASR numbers. Hence, Max Life wins over TATA AIA in terms of its Amount Settlement Ratio.

Volume of Complaints

As stated before, life insurance policies often involve a substantial amount as the sum assured. This amount (often in crores) requires you to approach an insurer with an extensive track record in handling claims without much hindrance.

Additionally, term insurance plans are meant to offer financial safety to your family in the event of your unfortunate passing away. The last thing that you want is for your family to go through issues while trying to gain access to the fund that is meant to act as your financial replacement when they are already in a state of emotional vulnerability.

Under such circumstances, you need a life insurer who offers hassle-free claim settlement. To get an idea of that, you need to check the complaint volume of an insurer. This will reflect the track record of the nature of claims settled based on the experience of the existing policyholders. The lower the complaint volume of an insurer, the better its credibility.

Conclusion: While Max LIfe indeed takes the win in the metrics of CSR and ASR, when it comes to the complaint volume metrics, TATA AIA is the clear winner. This metric indeed reflects why TATA AIA is considered one of the best term insurance providers in the industry. Also, it’s worth mentioning that TATA AIA’s complaint volume is the industry's best. So, if you are looking for an insurer offering hassle-free claim settlement, TATA AIA should be a top pick!

Average Annual Business

Usually, the annual average business volume is not precisely a credibility metric when choosing a term insurance provider. However, looking at this data has some perks when you are deciding between the sharks of the industry.

The average annual business of an insurer helps you analyse the size of its client pool. This metric would help you come across large and medium-sized insurers and thus have a more solid track record. Such insurance providers are usually more credible, given their industry experience.

Conclusion: While looking at the numbers, you can see that Max Life has had a higher average annual business over the years than TATA AIA. Now, while it’s true that Max Life has a 1-year advantage in its track record over TATA AIA, the consistencies across its numbers are truly impressive.

(Also, in case you are wondering about the high industry average for this metric, kindly remember that LIC is a part of this list of insurers and that LIC is one of the oldest providers with an extensive history and huge client pool).

Major Plans

Overall, TATA AIA Life Insurance and Max Life Insurance have incredible data across their CSR, ASR, complaint volume, and annual average business income metrics. However, Max Life has a slight edge over TATA AIA, beating it by marginal numbers.

And now, it all comes down to the term insurance plans they offer, their pros and cons, and the riders available through these policies. Here, take a look -

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TATA AIA vs Max Life Insurance: What Should You Choose?

Honestly, both Max Life Insurance and TATA AIA Life Insurance are great picks. Both have performed equally well in terms of their credibility metrics and product portfolio. However, when it comes to complaint volume, it cannot get better than TATA AIA.

About the term insurance plans offered by these insurers, both offer options across their riders, are comprehensive, pocket-friendly, and give access to extensive funds. The plans rarely have any caveats. So, you can’t go wrong with either of the choices between TATA AIA vs Max Life Insurance, provided you have opted for the suitable term insurance policy and value-worthy riders.