High-profile politicians who have taken policies of Life Insurance Corporation of India, the dominant India firm, include BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Congress' Ajay Maken, and Naveen Jindal, among others, according to an analysis of their poll affidavits. Hundreds of poll contestants have life insurance policies with LIC alone.
Insurance penetration is a major issue in the country where there are just about 35 crore policies in force out of a total population of 120 crore. With private companies strongly coming into the picture in past few years, many politicians have taken life covers in both LIC and private players.
For instance, JD(U) candidate from Paschim Champaran Prakash Jha has policies in LIC and Max Life Insurance. BSP's Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali and TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay have also taken policies in LIC, Kotak Life and Max. His party's Darjeeling candidate Baichung Bhutia has gone for LIC, Max Life and Bajaj Allianz.
Typically, insurance policy covers (sum assured) range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 lakh in rare cases. Analysis of poll affidavits show that while in a majority of cases politicians have regular premium paying policies, some have have opted for single premium products.
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