Lib that: Women buy one of four policies sold

More women are buying life insurance today, in an encouraging sign of their growing social mobility and independence.

Where a few years ago, women accounted for barely 10-15 of every 100 policies bought, today that number is up at 25-30.

In fact, women form 15% of the total life insurance policyholders in the country, according to Life 2010, a study conducted by Nielsen.

Interestingly, at 25%, women’s intention to buy life insurance is considerably higher than that of men at 19%, says the study.

“With more and more women getting educated and taking up career, getting themselves financially protected is a natural outcome. Women’s income has today started actively contributing to household expenses. It has also helped in significantly enhancing the lifestyle quotient of families which makes life insurance more relevant for them,” said Anisha Motwani, director and chief marketing officer at Max New York Life Insurance, which has witnessed a compounded annual growth rate of 22% among women customers over the last five years.

More and more women are joining the workforce, becoming financially productive and in some cases even becoming the primary breadwinners in their families.

“Even in case a woman is not a breadwinner, she should be insured as she is contributing to the generation of such income by performing a critical support function, ensuring the family’s physical, emotional and financial well being. Hence, we have also noticed a huge demand for insurance amongst our women customers,” says Suresh Agarwal, executive vice president, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Pvt Ltd.

Kamalji Sahay, managing director and chief executive officer, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance said 21% of the policies sold by his companies were to women.

“There is a 30% increase in the policies bought by women in July 2011 compared to the corresponding period last year. This rise was mainly because we focused more on low-ticket size policies. Under the bancassurance model, we also focused on women from Tier I and II cities, which is another reason why more women are now under the insurance umbrella.”

According to industry sources, while protection plans have always seen decent demand, the appetite for child and growth plans has been increasing considerably.

Max New York Life’s portfolio, for example, is spread equally over child, protection and growth plans.

Insurance companies, mindful of the special status and needs of women, are increasingly introducing products designed exclusively for them.

Several insurers have also introduced cheaper insurance plans for women as they have lower mortality risk compared with men.

“Some products also factor in life situations exclusive to women such as income replacement during a sabbatical after pregnancy, cervical cancer or even breast cancer which primarily affects women. Such a focused effort in developing products appealing exclusively to women is also encouraging more women to buy insurance,” said Agarwal of Kotak Life Insurance.

Quite a few insurers, including Aviva Life, Reliance Life, India First and Future Generali Life are yet to see significant growth in the number of women buying policies.