Frequently Asked Questions By NRIs

Who is NRI?

A Non-Resident Indian is a citizen of India (holding a valid passport of Govt. of India) temporarily residing in the country of his/her present residence. He/she should not have applied or planning to apply in the near future for acquiring citizenship of his/her present country of residence or any other country.

Whether Green card holders and foreign Nationals of Indian origin are treated as NRI?
No, Green card holders and foreign Nationals of Indian origin are not treated as NRIs for the purpose of allowing Insurance. They are treated as Foreigners and the underwriting rules as those prescribed for foreigners will be applicable.

In which currency the Insurance will be allowed?
The NRIs will be allowed insurance policies in Indian Rupee Currency only.

When NRIs/ Foreign Nationals of Indian Origin can be allowed insurance?  

• On their visit to India. All the formalities of proposal completion, medical examination reports/Special reports and Moral hazard report are required to be completed during their stay in India.
• From their present country of residence through Mail Order Business. All the formalities of proposal completion, obtaining medical & special reports etc are to be completed in the present country of residence. (Only NRIs)

What are the plans allowed for NRIs?

All plans are allowed for NRIs subject to certain restrictions

Which documents will be valid for income proof?

• The copy of Income Tax Return filed in the country of residence, if the Sum Assured exceeds Rs.15 lacs.
• If no Income Tax return is filed , then a copy of employment contract mentioning Salary or a certificate from a C.A. regarding business / other income.
• Personal Financial Questionnaire (PFQ) duly filled in and signed by the proposer and counter signed by the official filling in the MHR can also be accepted as proof of income upto a Sum Assured of Rs.25 lacs.

What are the requirements to be submitted for proposal under medical business?

• Duly completed Proposal Form
• Medical examination report along with special reports, if any
• Moral Hazard report
• A copy of passport
• NRIs questionnaire duly completed.

How is the premium under NRI policies paid?

The premium can be paid by any of the following manner

• By cheques drawn on his/her Non-Resident (External) Account or Foreign Currency (Non-Resident) Account with a Bank in India (or Joint Account provided the policyholder is one of the account holders)
• By cheques drawn on bank accounts held in India in their own names, either solely or jointly with the resident member of their family. i.e. father ,mother, husband, wife, children, brother or sister whether the accounts have been designated as Non-Resident or not.
• By cheques drawn on an account maintained by a resident parent or spouse of the Non-Resident policyholder with a bank in India, held solely or jointly with their close relatives. If the life assured is a bonafied student, premiums can be accepted if paid in India, by somebody else on his behalf.
• By the absolute assignee in India wherever such policies have been assigned to a resident in India.
• By the employers in respect of policies issued to their employees who have been deputed abroad by them.
• Premiums can be paid in cash by a resident parent or spouse of the Non-Resident policyholder subject to his/her submitting a letter stating the relationship with the policyholder.

How are claims settled?

The settlement of claims on rupee life insurance policies in favour of claimants resident outside India will be permitted in foreign currency only in proportion in which the amount of premiums paid in foreign currency in relation to the total premiums payable.
How are claims settled for beneficiaries?

• For Non-Resident Beneficiaries:
  Non-resident beneficiaries of Insurance claims/maturity/surrender value settled in foreign currency may be permitted to credit the same to NRE (Non-Resident External)/ FCNR (Foreign Currency Non-Resident) Account if they so desire.
• Claims/maturity proceeds/Surrender Value in respect of rupee life insurance policies issued to non-resident Indians for which premiums have been collected in non-repatriable rupees may be paid only in rupees by credit to NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account of the beneficiary. This would apply in cases of death claims being settled in favour of non-resident assignees.
• For Resident Beneficiaries :
  Resident beneficiaries of Insurance claims/maturity/Surrender values settled in foreign currency may be permitted to credit the same to RFC (Resident Foreign Currency ) Account if they so desire

Can NRIs/ PIOs take Rupee - Currency Policy of LIC?

Yes, from any of the 2048 Branches in India.

Can NRIs/ PIOs take Foreign - Currency Policy of LIC?

In India, LIC markets only Rupee - Currency Policy. However, clients residing in U.K. , Fiji and Mauritius can take Pound Sterling , Fiji Dollars and Mauritian Rupees denominated policies respectively from our branch offices in those countries. Similarly, LIC (International) B.S.C.(C), Bahrain - a subsidiary of LIC operates among NRIs in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait. Clients can take US Dollars, Bahrain Dinars and Saudi Riyal currency policies from them. Through our subsidiary companies LIC(Nepal) and LIC(Lanka), policies can be taken by in local currency of the respective countries viz. Nepal and
Sri Lanka


What are the types of schemes offered by LIC to NRIs/PIOs?

All individual schemes marketed by LIC in India are available to the temporary NRIs holding Indian Passports. Foreign Nationals of Indian origin can take LIC policies during their stay in India. However, joint life plans having term insurance element and plans having health insurance are not allowed.



Does LIC offer Overseas Medical Insurance for people visiting abroad?

No, LIC does not have any scheme of visitors Medical Insurance for people traveling abroad.


FAQs About Premium Collections Received Through Net-Banking.

What are the benefits of paying your LIC premiums through net-banking/phone-banking?

You as our policyholder:-

• Can decide and authorize payments 24hrs a day * 7days a week because of anywhere & anytime access to internet.
• Can issue payment instruction within the comforts of your home or office, and avoid personal visit to LIC branch
• Will save time by not waiting in queues for making the payment.
• Can avail the free service from LIC, as you don't have to pay any charges to LIC or its authorized agencies for this additional benefit.
• Can choose the bank account you want to pay from, any or all of your bank accounts can be registered with the service provider.
• Can decide in advance the date on which you want your account to be debited.
• Can choose to modify your instructions during the intervening time.
• Will get reminders and alerts by email from the banks and service providers about the premium dues.
• Can avoid expenses of postage/courier in sending the remittance to LIC.
• Can avoid demand draft/pay order charges for outstation policy premiums.
• Can also view your premium dues and other policy details
  

Which policies are eligible for payment of premiums through this facility?

• Policies which are being serviced in networked branches, or those policies which can be accessed through our MAN (Metro Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network).
• Policies which are of ordinary mode of payment ie. Yearly (Yly), Half-yearly (Yly) or Quarterly (Qly).
• Policies with mode of payments such as single premium, ordinary monthly (Mly) and Salary savings scheme (SSS) are not available for this facility.
• Policies should reflect in-force policy status. Lapsed policies or policies due for revival are not valid.
  

What are the charges to be paid for availing this facility?

• This facility is absolutely free for the policyholders of LIC.
• LIC has agreements with the authorized banks/service providers wherein LIC will pay a mutually agreed charge per transaction on monthly basis. Customer will not be charged for availing this payment facility
  
  

Which organisations are authorised to collect LIC premiums through their net-banking/phone-banking facility?

• Authorised Banks:-
  • HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Punjab, UTI Bank, Federal Bank, Corporation Bank, and Citibank
• Authorised Service Providers (available only in select cities) :-
  • BillJunction.com, Timesofmoney.com, and BillDesk.com.

Who can register with the authorised banks?

• You as our policyholder having a bank account with any of the above-mentioned authorized banks in any of its branches in India.
• You should have opted for the net-banking facility with the respective bank. Details of the same can be obtained from the respective bank through its web-site. Downloadable forms are also available for new customers.
• You should be able to access the net-banking account with the login & password provided by the bank.
• For more details about net-banking, you may log on to the respective bank's website.

Who can register with the authorised service providers?

• You as our policyholder having a bank account in any bank in the select cities where the above-mentioned service providers have their operations.
• On being approached, the service provider obtains a written mandate from you, authorising him to realise the billed amount directly from your bank account. You may have to give the bank account details and other requisite details as required by the service provider.

In which cities do the authorised service providers operate from?

• BillJunction.com has its operations in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad & Pune.
• TimesofMoney.com has its operations in Mumbai, Delhi, & Bangalore.
• BillDesk.com has its operations in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Baroda & Surat. They also have tie-ups with their partner banks viz. Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, ABN-AMRO Bank.

How to add the policy details at the authorised bank/service provider's web-site?

• Using the login & password provided by the bank/service provider, you can log on to your account page at the bank/service provider's website
• You have to add LIC as biller with the policy details and other requisite information. In general, you would have to enter the policy number, the instalment premium, email-id and any other information. This is a one-time process for each policy.
• Some of the service providers/banks' web-sites have a demo page showing the process of adding the billers.

How does LIC acknowledge the registered policy details?

• The bank/service provider sends these details to LIC for validation & confirmation of the registration data at pre-determined intervals.
• LIC validates the registration data and informs the bank/service provider about the registration status. Since LIC's database is de-centralized, generally it takes a week's time for confirmation of registration data.
• A consolidated database of registered policies is maintained by LIC. This database is updated at regular intervals on the basis of changes received from the original servicing branches.
• LIC also sends auto-mailers to the registered policyholders informing the registration status.

When can I pay the insurance premiums?

• On confirmation of the registration, LIC will regularly send the bills/invoices mentioning the due dates, premium amount, late fees, validity date, etc to the service provider/bank.
• As and when premium becomes payable under the registered policy, LIC sends the bills to the bank/service provider, and the information will be displayed by the bank/service provider in your net-banking account page.

How to pay the insurance premiums through the banks/service providers?

• You have to log on to the bank/service provider's website.
• On the web page, you have to signify the date on which you want your account to be debited and click the consent for the payment. You may even specify a particular account in case of multiple bank accounts.
• The authorized Bank will debit your bank account, consolidate the payments and send the consolidated amount to LIC in form of bankers' cheque / payorder.
• The authorized service provider will send the instructions to the bank branch (as mentioned in your mandate form) through the RBI's Electronic Clearance System and the bank will debit your account and credit the same to the service provider's bank account, who'll then remit the amount to LIC.
• Some service providers have autopay facility (where you can issue standing instructions to the service provider to debit your account as when the bill becomes payable), or phone-banking facility (where the you can issue telephonic payment instructions)

How will the payment get accounted under the policy?

• All consolidated payments from the Banks/Service providers are received at LIC, Branch 883 (under Mumbai Divisional Office - I), Yogakshema (West Wing), Ground Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021.
• Through batch processing in Internet module, premium transactions & renewal premium receipts are generated for each policy number.
• Renewal premium receipts for the same are printed and dispatched by ordinary post.
• Premium transactions pertaining to branches other than Branch 883 are sent to the respective servicing branch through the present network programs.
• All unadjusted premium collections are refunded to the Service provider/bank. Emails will be sent to the registered policyholders' email-ids informing the status of the registrations/payments.

What are the important points to be noted for availing this payment facility?

• Once registered for Premiums payments through Net-Banking/Phone-Banking, you should avoid paying at cash counters, because there are many instances where payment for the same due-month is received twice.
• Since renewal premium receipts are dispatched to the postal address as per your policy records, please ensure that your policy records are updated with your current address.
• In case you have not received the renewal premium receipt, you may collect the premium paid certificate from the servicing branch of your policy. Duplicate receipts cannot be printed in any case.
• Since we have de-centralized database structure, the collections are not adjusted online, the transaction has to reach the destination servicing branch of your policy for updation of the policy status. Hence there is short time-lag between the date of debit in your bank account and the date when the policy reflects the updated status.