IndiaFirst launches 2 new Ulip products

IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company today launched two equity-linked insurance products (Ulips), which comply with the new Irda guideline.

Both the products, IndiaFirst Smart Save Plan and IndiaFirst Young India Plan, provide insurance cover and market linked investments growth, the company said in a statement.

The company is also planning to launch more products in the next 2-3 months.

"Our new products will help cater to the diverse needs of customers across different segments for long term protection coupled with wealth creation, IndiaFirst Managing Director & CEO P Nandagopal said.

"We will be launching more new products in the next two- three months. The new products will be a mix of Ulip, health and traditional products," he added.

Both the new products would have the benefits of higher protection, option of partial withdrawals and portability facilities amongst others.

IndiaFirst is a joint venture life insurance company promoted by Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank, India and UK's Legal & General.

The company has already activated all 4,500 bank branches and plans to strengthen its distribution network by launching its alternate channels shortly, the statement added.

As per the new Irda guidelines effective from September 1, the commission paid to distributors and expenses charged by insurers will no longer be front-loaded and will be distributed over the lock-in period of the schemes, which has been raised to five years from three years earlier.

Currently Ulip products account for about 80 per cent of the total premium collected by the 23 private life insurance companies.

The new guidelines from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) would protect Ulip-holders from mis-selling by agents and onerous commissions are likely to make the equity-linked instruments more investor-friendly.

Under the new guideline, Irda has fixed the floor on guaranteed returns from Ulip pension plans at 4.5 per cent, which will greatly benefit policyholders saving up for retirement.