Saral Jeevan Bima: every insurer must sell it

Since 1 January 2021, every life insurer allowed to write new business in India has been directed to sell one identical term plan. IRDAI drafted the policy document itself and barred insurers from adding variants, options or exclusions. That plan is Saral Jeevan Bima, sold with the insurer's name in front of it.

These come from the IRDAI circular, not the insurer, and are the same wherever you buy.

Two of those interact. Because maturity age is capped at 70, your maximum term shrinks as you age. At 30 you can take the full 40 years. At 50 the longest is 20. At 65, just 5.

Older guides still say the free look is 15 days, or 30 days only online. That changed: the IRDAI Master Circular of 12 June 2024 gives everyone 30 days, however the policy was bought.

The circular is blunt. Apart from the benefits and riders it lists, no other riders, benefits, options or variants may be offered, and there can be no exclusion other than suicide. It also requires the product to be sold without restrictions based on gender, place of residence, travel, occupation or education.

So nobody can sell you a better Saral Jeevan Bima. Three things remain the insurer's own:

1. Price. Each insurer files its own rates with IRDAI, and they differ, sometimes a lot.
2. Whether they accept you, and on what loading. Underwriting follows each insurer's board approved policy.
3. Whether they offer cover above ₹25,00,000.

When the contract is identical everywhere, marketing is noise. You are choosing on price and on the likelihood of a clean payout.

Most comparison pages get this wrong. The 45-day waiting period is not a blanket “no cover”.

1. In the first 45 days, accidental death pays the full sum assured on death.
2. In the first 45 days, any other cause pays back 100% of premiums received excluding taxes. The sum assured is not paid.
3. After 45 days, on a regular or limited premium policy, the sum assured on death is the highest of 10 times the annualised premium, 105% of premiums paid, or the basic sum assured.
4. On a single premium policy it is the higher of 125% of the single premium or the basic sum assured.
5. On revival of a lapsed policy, the waiting period does not apply again.

IRDAI requires that waiting-period rule printed in bold on the welcome letter and page one of the sales literature. If your document lacks it, question what you were sold.

The suicide clause is narrower than people assume. On death by suicide within 12 months of risk starting or of revival, the insurer must still return 80% of premiums paid, or 90% of a single premium.

A term plan buys the most cover for the least money and returns nothing. A savings plan returns something and buys far less cover. If you need more than ₹25,00,000, ask whether that insurer offers a higher sum assured under this product, because the circular permits it and not all of them do.

1. Fix the cover before you look at any premium. Round it to a multiple of ₹50,000 and hold that number through every conversation.
2. Ask for the product by name and UIN. Ask for the unique identification number IRDAI allots each plan. LIC's version is Plan 859, UIN 512N341V01. A different name on the proposal form means a different product.
3. Get three quotes on identical inputs. Same sum assured, term, premium option, date of birth and tobacco status. Change one variable and the comparison is worthless.
4. Fill the proposal form yourself and disclose everything. Height, weight, income, existing policies, tobacco, alcohol, past illness, medication. An agent who calls a condition unimportant is building the dispute your nominee will fight later.
5. Name a nominee and keep it current here and on your demat and mutual fund holdings.
6. Read the policy within 30 days. If it is not what you were promised, use the free look and cancel. You get the premium back less medical costs, stamp duty and risk premium for days covered.

IRDAI does not fix the premium. Each insurer prices the product under the File and Use route, which is why quotes differ for an identical contract.

One change simplifies the arithmetic. The Department of Financial Services confirms GST on all individual life insurance policies was cut from 18% to zero from 22 September 2025, under notification No. 16/2025 Central Tax (Rate) dated 17 September 2025. So the premium quoted is the premium you pay. Group life policies still attract 18%.

Tax deduction is a separate question. Read term insurance tax exemption under Section 10 10D before assuming any relief.

The IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25 gives the industry benchmark in Table I.11. For individual business in FY 2024-25, insurers handled 10,34,455 death claims. Of these, 97.82% were paid by number and 96.29% by amount. Repudiations under Section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938 were 1.01%, rejections on policy terms 0.66%, and 0.48% were pending at year end.

Use that as your line in the sand. When an insurer advertises a settlement figure, ask which financial year it covers and whether it counts claims or rupees. A figure without a year is marketing, not data.

A different fight, covered separately here. In short: write to the insurer's grievance officer, then escalate on IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal at bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in, which took 2,57,790 grievances in FY 2024-25, of which 1,20,429 were life insurance. Still unsatisfied after 30 days? The Council for Insurance Ombudsmen, under the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017, takes free complaints up to ₹50 lakh within a year of the rejection.

For detail, read what to do when a claim goes into investigation and how to move a nominee claim stuck in verification.

RTI does not reach a private insurer, because a company is not a public authority. IRDAI is one, and runs its own RTI cell, so RTI works for asking IRDAI about grievance disposal or product filing records.

Draft it with the AI RTI Drafter, track the 30-day clock with the Timeline Tracker, test an evasive reply with the PIO Reply Checker, then escalate using the First Appeal Builder. The RTI Playbook sets out the sequence.

1. Write down the sum assured you need, rounded to a multiple of ₹50,000.
2. Work out your maximum term: 70 minus your age, capped at 40 years.
3. Pull three quotes on identical inputs and note each UIN.
4. Check the benchmark claim figures in the IRDAI annual report.
5. If a policy has reached you, diary the free look deadline today.

Yes. The circular directing all life insurers to offer it from 1 January 2021 is still an active document on the IRDAI website. The Master Circular of 12 June 2024 superseded four earlier circulars, all on product filing procedure, and this one is not among them. Insurers including LIC sell their version today.

No, and this is the commonest misunderstanding. IRDAI standardised the contract, not the price. Each insurer sets its own premium under the File and Use route, so quotes for the same age, term and cover differ between companies.

Possibly. The standard band is ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh, but the circular expressly permits insurers to offer more with all other terms unchanged. Ask directly, because not all do.

On a regular premium policy, cover ends after the grace period and nothing comes back. There is no surrender value under this plan. A policy cancellation value is payable only on single premium policies, and on limited premium policies where at least two consecutive full years have been paid.

It should not. The circular requires the product to be offered without restrictions based on gender, place of residence, travel, occupation or education. Underwriting still applies, so an insurer may decline or load a premium on health or financial grounds, but not on those five.

No. Only approved accident benefit and permanent disability riders may be attached, and no loan is allowed. Anything else sold under this name is not part of the product.

Rarely, and it ends when the job does. A group policy runs on different terms, and group life premiums still carry 18% GST. See what happens when a group term claim is delayed.

1. IRDAI circular IRDAI/Life/Cir/Misc/254/10/2020: Saral Jeevan Bima guidelines and plan features
2. IRDAI, Saral Jeevan Bima FAQs and Annexure 1 policy document format
3. IRDAI Master Circular on Life Insurance Products, IRDAI/ACTL/MSTCIR/MISC/89/6/2024
4. IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25, Tables I.11 and II.17: annual reports
5. Department of Financial Services, GST exemption for individual life policies
6. Council for Insurance Ombudsmen, Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017

1. Term insurance and tax under Section 10 10D
2. Term claim stuck in investigation: a nominee's options
3. Nominee claim held up in verification
4. Group term insurance claim delayed after a death
5. Add or change a nominee on demat and mutual funds