7 FREE or Cheapest inbuilt Insurance Covers

There is a famous saying that Ignorance is Bliss but not always. Insurance Cover is very critical be it Health, Life or a Property. As i keep highlighting that in India, Insurance cover is more of investment tool rather protection cover. Whenever i suggest insurance cover to any of my clients then 1st question is what is the return on same. In my opinion, inbuilt insurance covers are more appropriate for indian psychology. What if insurance cover is inbuilt along with product or a service. Inbuilt insurance cover can be Free or very cheap as such policies are group insurance policies or public liability insurance policy. Let’s check, 7 Free or cheapest insurance covers which are inbuilt.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

On 15th Aug, 2014 our Honourable Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi Ji launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Under this scheme, an accidental insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000 and life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 is provided FREE of Cost along with Zero Balance bank account. Life Insurance Cover is available only for bank accounts opened till 26th Jan, 2015. Though prime objective of scheme is Financial Inclusion but in my opinion it will be landmark in terms of creating awareness about importance of insurance cover among masses.

Insurance Cover for Bank Deposits

Though not many people are aware that bank deposits like savings/current account, FD’s & RD’s are insured for deposits upto Rs 1,00,000 (cumulative). This cover is free and is limited to aggregate deposits in a particular bank. 2 possible scenarios

1. You have FD of Rs 50,000 in 4 different branches of Bank A. Total interest accrued on FD’s is Rs 18000. In this case, only sum of Rs 1,00,000 is insured with the bank despite the fact that amount is deposited in different branches.

2. You hold savings account with 4 different banks. Each account has balance Rs 1,00,000. In this case sum insured is Rs 4,00,000 i.e. each bank will provide insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000 against bank deposits.

LPG Insurance Cover

If you are using LPG cylinder from any Govt OMC (Oil Marketing Company) like BPCL, HPCL or Indian Oil then as a customer you are covered for FREE against gas cylinder explosion. Premium is paid by the dealer to OMC. LPG Insurance covers loss of life or damage to property from cylinder explosions. This cover is bought by OMC for their customers. The maximum coverage is upto 40 Lakhs.  In case of any unfortunate event, a claim can filed with the distributor. Few catches under this cover are as follows

1. You need to get annual maintenance check from your dealer. Maintenance check payment receipts may be demanded at the time of claim

2. All accessories like gas burner, regulator, gas pipe etc should be ISI Mark

3. The gas connection should be used in the premises registered with the dealer e.g. if gas connection is in the name of a person A residing at Address B. In this case, if connection is used at Address C then LPG Insurance Cover is not applicable.

Employees Deposit Linked Insurance or EDLI

All employees contributing to EPF (Employee Provident Fund) and not covered by their company under Group Life Insurance are covered under Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme. Its a statutory liability for a company to subscribe to EDLI. Company is exempted from this scheme if company is providing better insurance benefits through aletrnative scheme. Recently Govt of India, increased the insurance cover max limit from 1.3 lakh to 3.6 lakh w.e.f Sep 01, 2014. The insurance cover is equivalent to

{Base Salary or Rs 15000 (Whichever is lower) multiply by 20} multiply by 120%

e.g. if base salary is Rs 20000 then lower of base salary and Rs 15000 is Rs 15000. In this case EDLI cover = Rs 15000 x 20 x 120% = Rs 360000 (Maximum Limit under EDLI)

Home Appliances Cover

Whenever we buy any Home Appliance like Washing Machine, Fridge or TV, the manufacturer provide insurance cover against loss or damage to Home Appliance. This cover should not be confused with warranty of Home Appliance. It is similar to householder’s policy. Home Appliance cover is FREE and cost of insurance is included in cost of appliance. Sometimes dealer’s sell it as FREE add-on or at nominal charges.  It is important to understand the repair or replacement policy under this insurance cover as there are lot of ifs and buts in such policies like definition of a break down etc.

3rd Party Liability Cover

Any passenger travelling in Commercial vehicle is covered under 3rd party liability cover. if the passenger die or injured while travelling in such vehicle then he or she is covered upto 10 lakhs. 3rd Party Liability Cover is also compulsory for Private Vehicles. Similar cover is available for air travel also.

Zero Liability Cards from VISA and Mastercard

Not many people know that VISA and Mastercard offer Zero Liability Credit / Debit Cards. The main feature of Zero Liability Cards is that if customer prove that he is not at fault then bank will refund the amount of disputed transaction. Though both VISA and Mastercard offer this facility but the card issuing bank has to offer this facility else you cannot avail this cover. Banks pay premium for this insurance cover for the cards issued by the bank. Not all banks buy this insurance cover. The transactions which require PIN or 2 step authentication are not covered under this cover. Currently ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Standard Chartered Bank have availed this insurance cover.

I always wish and hope that no one would ever come across situation where one need to claim insurance cover but as we all know life is uncertain. With proper knowledge and information about free inbuilt insurance covers we can overcome such uncertain situations in life through financial security. Hope you liked the post.

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