Rural Postal Life Insurance: RPLI Policy Plans, Benefits & Eligibility

Table of Contents

What is Rural Postal Life Insurance?
How many plans in RPLI
RPLI policy registration process
Documents required for registration of RPLI policy
Benefits of Rural Postal Life Insurance

In India, the majority of the population lives in Rural area. Insurance plays an important role in giving them economic protection against losses that may arise due to an uncertain event. In order to make insurance affordable and accessible for rural people, the Government of India had initiated multiple reforms.

Malhotra Committee formed for the reforms in the Indian insurance sector has observed that only 10% of Indian household savings constitute of life insurance in the year 1993. On the basis of the Committee’s recommendations, Rural Postal Life Insurance scheme was introduced in the year 1995 in order to spread insurance awareness and for the welfare of women workers and weaker sections of rural India.

What is Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI)?

Rural Postal Life Insurance plan was introduced in the year 1995 with a view to offering life protection to the larger population of rural India at minimal premium rates. The prime focus of the scheme is on weaker sections and women workers as recommended by the Malhotra Committee.

How many plans are in RPLI?

There are 6 types of RPLI policy. They are:

Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suraksha) Plan
Endowment Assurance (Gram Santosh) Plan
Convertible Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suvidha) Plan
Anticipated Endowment Assurance (Gram Sumangal) Plan
10-year RPLI (Gram Priya) Plan
Children Policy (Bal Jeevan Bima) Plan

Let’s learn more about these RPLI policies and eligibility. Amount of premium chargeable for all RPLI policies may vary depending on the age, time period chosen and many other factors. There is flexibility offered on the mode of premium payment. It can be, yearly/half-yearly/quarterly/monthly depending on the specifications of each policy.

Let’s take a look at some key features offered by each RPLI policy.

Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suraksha) Plan

The main objective of the policy is to provide financial protection to dependent family members on the death of policyholder along with maturity benefits to the policyholder. As per the policy conditions, the sum assured along with accrued bonus will be payable to the policyholder on attaining the age of 80 years or to the designated nominee in case of death of the policyholder, whichever is earlier.

However, the policy should be in force to receive the benefits. Following are the key features and eligibility requirement for Gram Suraksha:
1. Individuals between the age of 19 years and 55 years can apply for the scheme
2. Sum assured offered under the scheme is from minimum INR 10,000 to a maximum of INR 10 lakhs
3. The policy can be surrendered after completion of three years
4. Loan facility can be availed by pledging the policy to Head of the Circle/to the President of India provided policy has completed four years
5. Last declared bonus is INR 65 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year
Endowment Assurance (Gram Santosh) Plan

Gram Santosh scheme is aimed to fulfil the insurance needs of individuals by giving protection for the pre-specified period. In case of policyholder’s demise during the policy period, the sum assured and accrued bonus will be payable to the designated nominee. Following are some of the key features offered and eligibility conditions applicable for Gram Santosh RPLI policy:
1. Individuals between the age of 19 years and 55 years can apply for the scheme. Maturity of the policy may range from 35 years to 60 years
2. Sum assured offered under the scheme is from minimum INR 10,000 to a maximum of INR 10 lakhs
3. Policy can be surrendered after completion of three years
4. Loan facility can be availed by pledging the policy to Head of the Circle/to the President of India provided policy has completed three years
5. Last declared bonus is INR 50 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year
Convertible Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suvidha) Plan

Gram Suvidha policy is aimed at providing financial protection in the event of the death of policyholder to his/her legal heirs. It is a flexible RPLI policy that comes with a main feature of convertibility, wherein policyholder can convert Whole Life Assurance plan into Endowment Assurance plan after five years of taking the policy. The policy assures to provide sum assured with an accrued bonus at the time of death till the policy attains maturity age. Compensation will be payable to designated nominee/assignee/ legal heir of the policyholder. Following are the key features of Gram Suvidha:
1. Individuals between the age of 19 years and 45 years can apply for this RPLI policy
2. Sum assured offered under the scheme is from minimum INR 10,000 to a maximum of INR 10 lakhs
3. Policy can be surrendered after completion of three years
4. Loan facility can be availed by pledging the policy to Head of the Circle/to the President of India provided policy has completed four years
5. Last declared bonus is INR 65 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year (for policy that is not converted to Endowment Assurance Policy)
Anticipated Endowment Assurance (Gram Sumangal) Plan

Gram Sumangal is a policy that aims to provide periodical returns along with protection cover. Basically, it is a money-back plan that pays survival benefits in periodical instalments. Apart from survival benefits offered, if the policyholder dies anytime during the policy term, the full sum assured along with accrued bonus will be payable to the nominee/legal heir/assignee. Following are the key features of Gram Sumangal policy:
1. Individuals between the age of 19 years and 40 years can apply for this scheme with 20 years term and up to 45 years for the scheme with 15 years policy term
2. Maximum of INR 10 lakhs can be offered as the sum assured under the scheme
3. The policy comes with the benefit of assignment
4. Policy term can be chosen between 15 years and 20 years
5. Survival benefits periodically payable are as below:
  1. For 15 years policy term – 20% of the sum assured payable each time on completion of 6 years, 9 years and 12 years and the remaining 40% will be paid on maturity along with accrued bonuses
  2. For 20 years policy term – 20% of the sum assured payable each time on completion of 8 years, 12 years and 16 years and the remaining 40% will be paid on maturity along with accrued bonuses
6. Last declared bonus is INR 47 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year
10 Years RPLI policy (Gram Priya) Plan

RPLI policy is one of kind money-back policies that aims to provide benefits within a short span of 10 years only. The policy pays out survival benefits periodically and also assures to provide financial protection in the event of the demise of the policyholder. Sum assured is payable on the death of the policyholder to the designated nominee.
1. Individuals between the age of 20 years and 45 years can apply for this RPLI policy
2. Sum assured offered under the scheme is from minimum INR 10,000 to a maximum of INR 10 lakhs
3. The policy term is 10 years
4. Survival benefits payable periodically are – 20% of the sum assured payable each time on completion of 4 years and 7 years and the remaining 60% will be paid on maturity along with accrued bonuses
5. In case of natural calamities like earthquake, drought and cyclone etc, interest will not be chargeable up to one year on unpaid premium
6. Last declared bonus is INR 47 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year
Children Policy (Bal Jeevan Bima) Plan

Bal Jeevan Bima policy aims to provide financial security to the children of rural India, specifically the ones who belong to the weaker section of the society. Insurance coverage under this RPLI policy is provided to children of the policyholder. Following are the key features of Bal Jeevan Bima plan:
1. Children between 5 years and 20 years can be covered under this RPLI policy
2. A parent who is the policyholder should not be older than 45 years
3. Maximum of two children of a policyholder is eligible for this scheme
4. Risk cover will start from day one of the policy issuances. A medical check-up is not required for children
5. On the demise of the policyholder, further premium payments are stopped. That means premiums will be waived off. However, the benefit of sum assured and accrued bonus will be paid on completion of the policy term
6. Last declared bonus is INR 50 per INR 1,000 sum assured per year

RPLI policy registration process

RPLI policy registration can be done online. Following are the simple steps to follow

Visit India Post’s postal life insurance portal
Click on ‘Rural Postal Life Insurance’ under ‘products/schemes’ tab
Click on ‘buy policy’ option and fill in your details and coverage requirement and obtain a quote
Proceed for application. Start filling the application form by mentioning all the relevant details. Further, you can provide your employment history, nomination details, insurance history and medical history
Choose the base coverage, provide a declaration, confirm and proceed for payment
You can make a payment online or skip the payment if you are going to pay offline
You need to take the print out of the filled application and submit it at the nearest Indian Post Head Office along with relevant documents
Once the application is processed customer ID will be issued for further online tracking of your RPLI policy.

Documents required for RPLI policy

Following are the documents required for registration:

Age proof- Birth certificate/SSLC mark sheet/Voter ID/Passport etc.
Identity proof – PAN card/ driving license/voter’s ID/ Passport/ Aadhar card, etc.
Address proof – Driving license/passport/latest electricity bill/ telephone bill etc.
Declaration of the medical examiner
Declaration in case the proposer is illiterate

Benefits of Rural Postal Life Insurance

RPLI policies offer various benefits and facilities to the policyholder. Following are the benefits offered by Rural Postal Life Insurance:

The policyholder can change the nomination at any time during the policy.
RPLI policies provide the benefit of assignment.
The policyholder can avail loan against RPLI policies. However, endowment assurance plans need to complete three years and whole life assurance plans need to complete four years to pledge the policy for the loan.
The lapsed RPLI policy can be revived. It’s important to note that if the policy is in force for less than three years, the policy will lapse after six unpaid premiums. If the policy is in force for more than three years, the policy will lapse after twelve unpaid premiums.
Conversion of policy from endowment assurance to whole life assurance and whole life assurance to endowment assurance is also possible as per the rules.
If the original RPLI policy bond is lost, torn, burnt or mutilated, the policyholder can request for issuance of duplicate policy bond.

Also Read:

FAQs

What do you mean by ‘surrender value’ of RPLI policy?
Surrender value is the amount or sum of money that is payable on cancellation of RPLI policy.
How to initiate the claim in Rural Postal Life Insurance policies?
The claimant can visit the nearest post office and obtain the claim request form and initiate the claim process by submitting necessary documents along with the form.
What is ‘assignment’ in RPLI policy?
Assignment means transferring of rights from the policyholder to another person. In this case, when assignor (policyholder) dies, compensation will be paid to assignee.
How can I pay a premium for RPLI policy?
Premium payment for RPLI policies can be made by visiting any of the nearest post offices. If you are a registered online customer having access to the customer portal with the customer ID, you can pay premiums online also.
What is ‘policy number’ in RPLI policy?
The policy number is a unique 13-digit number issued to the policyholder. This number needs to be quoted in any correspondence relating to your RPLI policy.