ICICI Pru to roll out revamped ULIP

The plan, as per Irda norms, will have a 3-year lock-in.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is launching a unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP) that will be the first to conform to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority's (Irda) regulations on ULIPs.

ICICI Prudential's LifeLink Super single premium insurance product will be a modification of the existing LifeLink plan.

The revised product will have a three-year lock-in, a crucial clause in the ULIP regulations that seek to differentiate ULIPs from mutual fund investments. The older LifeLink II plan has a one-year lock-in.

The country's largest private sector life insurer will stop selling the existing LifeLink product from March 13, 2006, when it launches LifeLink II.

ICICI Prudential's managing director & CEO, Shikha Sharma, said modifications in other ULIP products will be carried out in phases before the July 1, 2006 deadline set by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

ICICI Prudential has 16 unit-linked products. Of the total assets under management of Rs 7,650 crore, ULIPs account for Rs 5,800 crore.

LifeLink Super will open with a new fund series on March 13, 2006 and will offer units to customers at an NAV of Rs 10 per unit on the opening day.

The target customers for the modified products are individuals who want to invest a lumpsum in one shot and don't want the pressure of regular future payouts. These include sportsmen, artists, freelancers and those with windfall profits.

The new product will offer option to choose between two levels of sum assured "" 125 per cent and 500 per cent. There will also be 100 per cent allocation for premium of Rs 5 lakh and above.