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This answer will be more of an analysis type. I will present some data on the various companies operating in the Indian insurance sector. This data has been compiled from the annual reports [1] of IRDAI. The data ranges from 2014–15 to 2018–19 i.e. 5 financial years. Rather than giving advice on which plan to buy, this answer will be focused on choosing the right insurance company.Some points on data collection:I have included all the companies in the list whose claim settlement ratio was greater than 90% during any of the five financial years mentioned.During these five financial years, some companies had a split-up from their joint companies and hence changed their name. But I have used the names of companies that were present during 2018–19 and used those names for the data of previous financial years as well.Only individual death claims have been used for this analysis (and not group death claims).Some definitions:Group death claims: Group Death Claim is the formal request made by the master policyholder to the Insurance company, for the payment of the life cover amount to the nominee, in event of the unfortunate death of the life assured [2].Claim settlement ratio: It is the ratio of the number of claims settled by the company (not equivalent to getting the insured amount) to the total number of claims received by the company. It should be as high as possible.Amount settlement ratio: It is the ratio of the amount disbursed to the actual claim amount received by the company. It should be as high as possible.Benefit amount: It is the total amount disbursed by a company to all the claims that have been settled.Let’s start.All the figures have been arranged in descending order with respect to the 2018–19 year data.Let’s have a look at the distribution of the companies with respect to the number of policies against which claims have been paid.From the above bar chart, the companies other than LIC seem to be insignificant. This is understandable as the insurance sector was privatized in 2000 whereas LIC was formed in 1956.If LIC is excluded from the list then the distribution would look something like this:It can be seen that the number of policies of Reliance Nippon and Aditya Birla Sun Life is decreasing for five consecutive financial years whereas that of SBI Life, HDFC and MAX Life is increasing and ICICI Prudential is almost constant.A look at the distribution of the companies with respect to the claim settlement ratio.The high claim settlement ratio isn’t mapped to only term plans. This ratio includes the endowment plans and various other plans too which are nowhere near to the risk coverage offered in term plans at a substantially lesser premium. Along with the claim settlement ratio, it is also important to look for the amount settlement ratio.Amount settlement ratioIt would be very helpful if we could get a combined view of the claim as well as the amount settlement ratio. In the following distribution, I have multiplied the claim and amount settlement ratios to arrive at a more appropriate list.Let’s have a look at the benefit amount. This has been included to display the relative size of the companies in terms of disbursing the claim amount.Again LIC tops the list. The distribution would look something like below if LIC is excluded from the list.Conclusions (Only major companies included i.e. number of policies>2000):From the above illustrations, it is clear that LIC is the biggest player in the sector. But considering the size of the company, the growth has almost stagnated except that the ‘Benefit Amount’ is showing growth over the years.HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Kotak Mahindra, MAX Life, SBI Life and TATA AIA have shown growth in almost every metric except that the amount settlement ratio in case of MAX Life has remained almost constant and that the number of policies against which claims has been disbursed in case of ICICI Prudential and TATA AIA has also remained almost constant over the five years.In the case of Reliance Nippon, the number of policies against which claims have been disbursed and the benefit amount is decreasing over the years which is not a very appealing sign. Also, Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) has an almost stagnated growth coupled with the decreasing number of policies against which claims have been disbursed. Similar is the case with Exide Life.I have created a table wherein the 6 companies in point 2 and LIC has been arranged in descending order in their respective columns (considering the 2019 data).From the above table, LIC, TATA AIA, MAX Life and ICICI Prudential seem to be the best options to go with.The above analysis has been made with respect to a few metrics. There are other considerations that have to be considered such as the term of the plan, critical illness and accident benefit rider, the payout options in the unfortunate circumstance of death, etc. My fellow quora members might have already answered this question with respect to the above considerations. Overall, plans from any of the above 7 companies can be chosen and compared for final buying.Note:I’m not affiliated with any of the above companies (except that I had once been a LIC agent though the license has been terminated for not practicing it 😅).If you find any errors in the above data, I would be happy to make a modification. Just point it out.The premium amount is fixed for the whole term of the plan once you have purchased it. Make sure that you buy a term plan at an early age as the premium amount goes on increasing with age.Hope you find the above information useful. All the best and make a good choice of the term plan that suits your needs.Footnotes[1] प्राधिकरण का वार्षिक प्रतिवेदन[2] Group Death Claim

There are many difficult patches, applicable to different stages in career, job roles and organisational culture. All things - good and bad do not happen at the same time.A few instances can be mentioned -It is a buyers market.The chunk of business lies with people who are already customers of some other bank. Business acquisition means taking away business from another bank - by offering a better product, quality of service or relationship. Customers use this to negotiate hard - higher interest rates on deposits, lower interest rates on loans, waiver of charges, freebies etc.2. Sales pressure is high, and culture is negative.Use of foul language, threats, asking for resignations is common to build up a pressure for achievement of targets.3. Catch 22 situation for lenders.One has to meet targets for disbursement of loans. Not getting quality borrowers, or borrowers which meet all specifications laid down by the bank is not accepted as an excuse.If there is failure in repayment in the loans sanctioned by the officer, it makes the same officer accountable for the loan slipping down on classification scale under prudential norms. The punishments in this case can be higher - ranging from chargesheets, institution of enquiries, suspension, increments being held up, transfer to other verticals/places, to dismissal in public sector banks. Private sector banks can ask for a resignation.4. Limited power in private sector bank branchesDecision making authority is centralized with administrative ofices in private sector banks. Approvals need to be taken for a small waiver of charges, to sanction of loans. However, the branch official interacts with the client, and faces their ire if the customer’s request is not granted.5. RiskThere is a risk involved in every transaction and decision - a cash payment made by a teller, fake notes received in a cash receipt, authorization by a senior official, a loan sanctioned, authenticity of KYC documents given by a client, funds transferred, failure of transactions, cheques passed for payment, accounts going out-of-order, charges/penalties levied by stakeholders outside the banking system. The banker has to bear the brunt in case of a loss suffered by the bank. Robberies in the branch, or during transit can put a banker in trouble, if all security conditions were not met.Fear of consequences sometimes, leads to inaction or lack of initiative by employees - leading to poor customer service. It slows down the system.6. Working in remote locationsStaff may be less, risk is high, business and profitability is low - but the show must go on.7. Increased exposure to fraudsDigital banking has opened up systems to hacking. Constant checks on the system are needed to ensure there are no loopholes. Techies have to stay updated on the latest risk cropping up, and upgrade systems accordingly. A metal cage for the cash counter, an armed guard and stringent checks on transactions are no longer enough to guard against frauds and thefts.8. Political and other interferenceThe banker may be asked to dispense favors to certain individuals/companies on instructions from outside, but remains accountable for problems that occur after that. Loan waivers by governments also create problems for bankers. Borrowers do not repay in anticipation of such waivers, leading to a dilution in quality of assets.The system is not all bad, because a bank by its very nature deals with public money. Responsibility and accountability is essential for guardians of such monies. However, the market conditions and toxicity of internal environment create tight corridors for execution of duties.

From pigeon to post, India Post has traveled a long way with the passage of time. From 23,344 post offices primarily opened in urban areas prior to independence catering to the needs of Britishers for development of their trade and exercising control over their vast Indian possessions with one post office serving 15038 persons covering an area of 53 square miles to 1,54,979 post offices (139182 i.e. 89.81% in rural area and 15797 i.e. 10.19% in urban area ) having 4.75 lakh employees (2.06 lakh Departmental and 2.69 lakh Gramin Dak Sewak) as on 31.3.2010, India Post has registered nearly a seven fold growth during the period of last seven decades focusing its expansion to rural areas and thus has been acknowledged as the largest postal network in the world with one post office serving 7176 people in average (5682 in rural area and 20346 in urban area) covering an area of approximately 21.2 sq. kms and providing postal facilities within reach of every citizen in the country at affordable prices adopting every mode of transmission from bare foot to air route with recorded delivery of 1,575 crore mails every year.Challenging Transformation of India Post to Protect the Future:But the days are gone. Passing through ages, India Post has never remained as a service Department. While it is providing poor man’s service like post cards etc. on subsidized rate on one hand, it is charging the corporate sector in commercial rates on the other and earning revenue to meet its own expenses by running other products and services, both postal and non-postal for the common man. Due to emergence of electronic alternatives, more demanding customers, presence of organized / unorganized couriers for mail conveyance, financial players like banks and insurance companies and above all the challenges of globalization, corporatization and liberalization, India Post is now facing competition which has compelled it to be commercial day by day rather than remaining as a full public utility service department. Thus, to meet the challenges and to face the competitors on one hand and to prove itself as an efficient and reliable communication network as the main component of the communication infrastructure for playing a crucial role in the socio-economic development and integration of the country on the other, the Postal department is doing a lot of things other than just delivering letters aiming for a transformation with re-engineering of Business Processes and making it compatible to suit the new ICT solutions and evolving new processes based on customer needs.A. Business Development:Going beyond its traditional products and services of sale of stamps and stationery, booking and delivery of letters/parcels etc., India Post, through establishment of a Business Directorate has introduced several new products and services viz., Speed Post, Express Parcel Post, Business Post, Media Post, Retail Post, Speed Post Passport Service, Direct Post, Bill Mail Service, Logistic Post, ePost, iMO, ePayment, World Net Express etc. which cater to the need of every citizen. National Postal Policy has been formulated to develop services that assist, facilitate, enhance and quicken the process of development aimed at inclusive growth and to reposition India Post to become a self-sufficient, credible, efficient, quick and cost–effective provider of these services. Thus, it is just trying to do more than what it can to stay relevant today. Undoubtedly, it is a big challenge for the Department.To cater the needs of NRI dependent families in India, visiting International tourists and foreign students studying in India, the Department in collaboration with the Western Union Financial Services, USA operates International Money Transfer Service through the post offices in India which enables instantaneous remittance of money from 185 countries to India. In January 2006, an on‐line web‐based domestic money transmission service called iMO was launched which enables the customer to receive money in minutes from any of the 2175 identified post offices for the purpose. The electronic money order, i.e. e MO which has been launched in October 2008, facilitates transmission of ordinary money orders from all the computerized post offices through electronic media without any extra charge. The Department of Posts entered into an International Cooperation Agreement with Money Gram Payment Systems, USA to offer to the general public the Money Gram International Money Transfer Service through selected Post Offices in India. This service has been launched on 29th September 2011. e‐Payment is a 'Many to One' service through which bills and taxes etc. are paid by customers in 14000 Post Offices across the country and will soon be extended to all computerized Post Offices. The Department of Posts introduced ECS scheme on 9th August 2003 which facilitates depositors to get MIS interest automatically transferred and credited into their SB account on the due dates at the designated Bank of their choice.B. I T Modernization :Briefing the Department’s long journey from pigeon post to e-post, it is evident that the Department of Posts actively entered into the digital era through counter mechanization installing 102 personal computer-based MPCMs in 22 selected post offices during the year 1990 – 91 and conceived the Project Arrow concept in April, 2008 under “Look & Feel Good” concept. During 2008-09, 45 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 1847 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow. During 2009 -10, 2920 post offices were computerized, computer hardware was upgraded in 92 post offices and 500 post offices were modernized under Project Arrow. As on 31.03.2010, out of 25563 departmental post offices, 14415 POs including those in the rural areas have been computerized. 1304 Post Offices have been networked through leased lines so far with the National Data Centre. Further 5170 Post Offices have been networked through broad band. The XIth Plan proposal includes computerization and networking of remaining 10841 departmental Post Offices and all the 129416 Branch Post Offices.Being the oldest and largest banking institution in the country, Post Office Savings Bank operates more than 240 million Savings Accounts and the outstanding balance under all the eight national savings schemes (SB, RD, RD, MIS, SCSS, PPF, NSC & KVP) is Rs.5828329.6 million as on 31.03.2010. Not to lose such a large number of customers due to lack of modernization and non-availability of the services of ATMs, mobile banking and demat facilities on one hand and for providing Any‐where, Any‐time and Any branch banking on the other, Core Banking Solutions (CBS) has been included in the 11th Five Year Plan with a financial outlay of Rs. 106 crores for development of CBS software and other related activities.C. Potential Service Provider :The Department of Posts is also emerging as a potential service provider to other organizations. To meet the challenges, India Post has revolutionized the way it used to function before adopting varieties of products and services starting from selling of movie tickets in urban area to agriculture insurance in rural area. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSP) has entrusted the job of collecting statistics for ascertaining the Rural Price Index from 1183 post offices across the country with effect from Oct 2009. Railway Ministry and the Department of Posts have signed a memorandum of understanding for providing railway ticket booking services at the post offices. The Department of Posts is discharging the responsibility to disburse the wages to NREGS beneficiaries through Post Office Savings Bank account. Currently operational in 19 Postal Circles comprising of 21 States, the scheme is operational through 90,000 post offices. The Department of Posts in collaboration with NABARD is providing the facility of micro‐credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) through identified post offices on agency basis. Department of Posts has signed an agreement on 17.9.08 with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. to retail their Pension Products through select Post Offices on Referral Model. India Post introduced a new international air express service known as World Net Express on 26.11.2008. The service is available at selected post offices for more than 220 countries. India Post has tied up with State Bank of India to sell its assets and liability products through identified post offices. Old Age Pension is being paid through Post Office Savings Accounts and Money Orders. As a tie‐up with Reliance Money Limited, sale of gold coins has been launched on 15th October, 2008 as part of retail post in selected post offices. The Department of Posts has been assisting other public authorities under the Central Government in implementing the RTI Act by providing services of its designated Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs). For this, Sub Post Masters at Tehsil level act as the Central Assistant Public Information officer (CAPIO) for accepting RTI requests and appeals from all central Government Departments. Under a partnership with Deutsche Post, Money Order Videsh was launched by India Post on 24.10.2009 to facilitate remittances to foreign countries and receiving of remittances from foreign countries through Post Office.Apprehensions & Suggestions for Prospective Future:As a result of these challenges, all operational, administrative and accounting units of this vast organization are being affected presently and will be affected in future with new management system. The Circles, Regions, Divisions and Post Offices are dealing with implementation of multiple solutions. Therefore, employees from all levels are inducted to the changes for capacity building, augmenting training infrastructure, achieving computer literacy at all levels etc. to run a massive change management plan.But while analyzing the processes the Department has adopted to meet the challenges and to secure the future of India Post, the following shortcomings are noticed which are required to be taken care of.1. The National Postal Policy broadly speaks that urban postal and financial services are essential in order to maintain the flow of funds between urban and rural residents and it is necessary to ensure safe and quick transmission of moneys. Since the competitors for such urban services are aggressive and efficient private players, India Post should enhance and improve its delivery of urban services in order to offer comparative standards of performance. But contradictorily, now there is a move by India Post for rationalization of postal network in urban areas by way of relocation / merger of 9797 single / double handed post offices. This apart the Department has also initiated action for abolition of 17093 unfilled posts. The proposed closure of 9797 Post offices means reduction of about 36% of the existing postal network. The arguments put forward by the Department justifying such mass-scale closure/merger/relocation cannot be accepted when all other private couriers and companies are competing to canvass customers of India Post by opening more and more outlets in the urban areas for extending their services to the doorstep of such customers. It is apprehended that in the name of rationalization and optimization, India Post is giving more space to the private companies for occupying more share in the mail market segment. Large scale closure of Post Offices and RMS offices will not only lead to inconvenience to the public leading to discontentment but also adversely affect the interest of the employees. The Department needs to look after this aspect very carefully before implementation.2. To face the twin challenges of increasing competition and continuing advances in communication technology, especially in mobile telephony and the Internet and to provide the best-in-class customer services, India Posts has undertaken an end to end IT Modernization project to equip itself with requisite modern tools and technologies. With key objective to Modernize and computerize of all Post Offices in the country including Branch Post Offices in rural areas, India Post 2012 aims at transforming the DoP into a “Technology Enabled, Self-Reliant Market Leader”.Two important things are being overlooked by the Department under IT Modernization Project.a. Out of 154979 post office, 129416 branch post offices (83.50%) are in rural areas which are managed by Gramin Dak Sewaks with minimum qualification of Matriculate or below and without any technical knowledge. In addition, barring a few new entrants, most of the regular departmental senior officials don’t know the fundamentals of computer. Contradictorily, the present mode of computer literacy and training programme of India Post only aims at imparting training on different modules / packages in operation by the Department just to suit its needs only without considering the needs of the employees. There is no plan to redesign the computer training programmes by the Department which may stand in the way of effective service delivery clearly satisfying the standards fixed in the Citizen Charter.b. Most of the Branch Post Offices functioning in the rent free accommodations provided by the BPMs are completely unsuitable for computer networking. The basic civil and electrical works needed for computerization have been witnessed to be of sub-standard nature in Departmental post offices most of which are functioning on rented buildings owned by private people. So modernization of all such post office buildings over which the Department has no control may be a myth.Thus, such deficiencies need to be taken care of failing which the aims and objectives of IT Project, 2012 may be futile in future in the hands of untrained non-technical employees and in private rented buildings.3. The draft Corporate Plan outlined by India Post seems not to be comprehensive. Implementing large scale closure of post offices, it will be hypothetical to provide basic postal facilities within easy reach of all people and businesses by 2013-14. Keeping the rates of interest on various POSB Schemes lower than banks, it is just theoretical to increase financial inclusion of the unbanked population by at least 10% by the year 2013-14. Still remaining partly commercial and partly service and awaiting to address the issue relating to definition and cost of its Universal Service Obligation, it is really imaginary to attain self-sufficiency by 2013-14. The quality of service delivery standards outlined in the Corporate Plan of India Post and guaranteed under the Citizen Charter to the members of Public is witnessed to be affected greatly after introduction of National Speed Post Hubs and L 1 and L 2 hubs for Registered and Un-registered mails. Thus, India Post needs to adopt different strategy with a comprehensive corporate plan to secure the future of the Department and its employees.4. Amendment of Indian Post Office Act with a view to legalize private courier services will certainly have an adverse impact on the monopoly of India Post in future. The proposed Postal Regulatory Authority will snatch away the monopoly of the Department in handling postal articles in future. When the main spirit behind the introduction of Post Office Act was aimed at having effective control of their dominions by the allies, introduction of a fresh Act to bring complete elimination of the private courier agencies is more desirable now for better national interest rather than a move to legalize their business activities.5. The Strategic Plan of India Post includes, inter alia, “Neat, clean and spacious post offices “ and “Dynamic Queue Management”. Unfortunately, it is quite evident that most of the post offices especially functioning in rented buildings are highly below the prescribed schedule of accommodation . The mail, sorting, delivery and counter hall are witnessed to be functioning in a single room in most of the post offices. Similarly, the queue management system has been totally ignored in respect of the Project Arrow post offices under Phase – I and II. When customers are attending the counters at unpredictable places forming unstructured queues , high and standardized quality service is seriously affected. Thus the present Strategic Plan of India Post needs to be redefined so that India Post which has touched the lives of every citizen for more than 150 years will continue to enjoy the trust and support of its customers and stakeholders in future.6. The vision of the Result Framework Document (RFD) for India Post (2011-12) specifies that its products and services will be the customers’ first choice. This can only be possible if India Post will promote its own mail, financial and insurance products instead of promoting the products and services of outside agencies, viz, ICICI Prudential, UTI etc More revenue will be earned if India Post does directly any business instead of doing through intermediaries as is being done for sale of Gold Coin. The trust of the general public with India Post need not be exploited in any manner failing which the future of India Post may be at stake.7. In spite of recent hikes of the rates of interests in Post Office Small Savings Schemes twice, i. e. once from 01.01.2011 and once again from 01.04.2012, the same has still remained unexpectedly lower than its financial competitors affecting the S B transactions from which the Department earns nearly 48% of its total income. The Department does not find any financial autonomy and commercial flexibility to respond to market forces quickly and efficiently since it is functioning as a corporate agent of the Ministry of Finance. Full autonomy for operationalization of all POSB Schemes needs to be retained with India Post.8. India Post aims at providing new and better services on par with global industry standards by computerizing and networking of all post offices using Central Server based system which may affect the present status of Head Post Offices and Accounts Offices. It is apprehended that the Department may attempt in future to decentralize the postal accounts shifting over to accrual basis accounting. When full computerization will make the post offices paperless, establishments like the Postal Stores Depots and Postal Printing Press in the present form may be redundant in future. Thus, India Post awaits a great structural redesigning in future.9. The Technology Wing and Business Development Cell of India Post are neither managed by Technically and Management qualified personnel nor there is a plan for direct recruitment of such personnel from open market. Leading such wings by non-professionals may not bring the targeted result for which the Department is likely to suffer in future.10. The basis of any policy of sustainability and growth, especially of labour intensive activities, is the productivity, capacity and morale of its personnel. But as seen, the employees at grass root level who are directly responsible for smooth implementation of all the policies and decisions are highly depressed. It is witnessed that increased productivity and higher performance are not receiving appropriate incentives in the Department and the interests of the workforce of India Post are not being safeguarded. The demands of the Staff Side with scientific approaches to meet the future challenges are either overlooked or totally sidelined and the department is blindly going ahead with unscientific proposals recommended by outside agencies. While progress is being expected and monitored by the Department through Public Private Partnership, avoidance to Staff Side is not at all a good sign for future progress of India Post.