Understanding the trends of Claim Settlement Ratio
Claim settlement ratio is a vital factor that a buyer looks forward to while buying a Life Insurance policy. The entire purpose of buying a Life Insurance policy is to provide financial protection to your family in case of unfortunate scenarios. If you are wondering why it is important to check the claim ratio, here are a few reasons:
- High claim settlement ratio indicates more claims are being paid out by the insurance company
- It indicates that the insurance company has strong underwriting standards
- It provides greater assurance to the customer
While buying a term insurance plan, it becomes all the more important to consider the claims ratio of the company.
What is the Claim Settlement Ratio?
Claim settlement ratio is the proportion of the number of claims paid by the insurance company against the number of claims received during the financial year. A consistently high claims settlement ratio is a good parameter to understand how good the underwriting and claims process of a company is managed.
For example,
Assume that company A received 10,000 claims in a financial year. Out of which they paid a total of 9,600 claims and repudiated the rest of the claims.
Claim Settlement Ratio = No. of Claims paid / No. of claims received
Thus, the claim settlement ratio in our example will be will be = 9,600/10,000 = 96%
Every financial year, insurance companies publish their claim settlement ratio in their annual reports. We have listed down the claim ratios of the last 5 years to help you take a sound decision while buying a new life insurance policy.
| Company | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017-18 |
| LIC | NA | 98.62% | 96.70% | 97.79% | 98.04% |
| Max Life | 99.34% | 99.35% | 99.22% | 98.74% | 98.26% |
| HDFC Life | 98.66% | 98.01% | 99.07% | 97.15% | 97.80% |
| Aegon Life | 99.03% | 99.25% | 98.01% | 96.45% | 95.67% |
| SBI Life | NA | 93.09% | 94.52% | 95.03% | 96.76% |
| ICICI Prudential | 97.80% | 97.90% | 97.84% | 98.58% | 97.88% |
| Tata AIA Life | 98.53% | 98.02% | 99.06% | 99.07% | 98.00% |
| Canara HSBC OBC | 98.57% | 97.10% | 98.12% | 94.04% | 95.22% |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life | 98.08% | 98.04% | 97.54% | 97.15% | 96.38% |
| Reliance Nippon Life | 98.70% | 98.49% | 98.12% | 97.71% | 95.17% |
| Edelweiss tokio Life | 98.09% | 97.00% | 83.44% | 95.82% | 95.24% |
| Bharti Axa Life | 99.09% | 99.05% | 97.35% | 97.28% | 96.85% |
| Bajaj Allianz Life | 98.48% | 98.50% | 98.02% | 95.01% | 92.04% |
| Kotak Life | 98.50% | 98.50% | 96.38% | 97.40% | 93.72% |
| DHFL Pramerica Life | 97.00% | 98.61% | 98.42% | 96.80% | 96.62% |
| Aviva Life | 98.40% | 98.01% | 97.53% | 96.06% | 94.45% |
| Ageas Federal | 97.03% | 95.07% | 96.47% | 95.79% | 91.99% |
| Sahara India | NA | NA | 89.45% | 90.16% | 82.74% |
| Future Generali Life | 96.15% | 94.86% | 95.28% | 95.16% | 93.11% |
| PNB MetLife | 98.17% | 97.18% | 97.18% | 96.21% | 91.12% |
| Star Union Dai-Ichi | NA | 95.96% | 96.96% | 96.74% | 92.26% |
| IndiaFirst | NA | 96.81% | 96.65% | 92.82% | 89.83% |
| Shriram Life | 95.82% | 95.12% | 91.61% | 85.30% | 80.23% |
*Source: IRDAI & Insurer Website
Conclusion
A high and consistent claim ratio of the Life Insurance company ensures that the real purpose of the Life Insurance policy is met.
