GURUGRAM: Parents plan children’s milestones through years of disciplined investing. But what happens to the financial goal in the absence of the premium paying parent? Recognizing this gap, Policybazaar brings to light an important but often overlooked feature of life insurance that can help families stay protected when an unforeseen event affects their ability to pay premiums.
In the absence of the policyholder, the Waiver of Premium (WOP) feature ensures that future premiums are taken care of by the insurer. This makes sure that the child savings or insurance plan continues as per its terms. The need for this protection is reflected in Policybazaar’s claims experience. Since 2018, 3,550 claims have been processed, representing around Rs 396 crore in benefit to families across 32 States and Union Territories and more than 1,000 cities. Essentially, the parent’s death does not bring the financial plan for the child to an end.
Small addition, massive value
The claims data also shows how significantly the benefit can add to the overall value available to a family. The average claims benefit for policies with WOP was Rs 53.3 lakh, compared to Rs 9.1 lakh for policies without WOP. This included an average additional benefit of Rs 44.2 lakh from WOP. For the families behind these numbers, the benefit can be particularly important in child savings plans.
Vivek Jain, Chief Business Officer, Life Insurance, Policybazaar, said, “When parents plan for their child’s future, they tend to think about the amount they need to save, the time available and the milestones they want to fund. But an equally important question is what happens to that plan if the parent who is funding it is no longer around? Waiver of Premium addresses this gap by ensuring that, in eligible policies, the insurer takes over future premiums after the death of the premium-paying parent. Our claims experience shows the meaningful difference this can make to the benefits available to families. The need now is to make more consumers aware of this important layer of protection.”
Here’s an example of how this works out practically –
A parent has to invest Rs 10,000 a month for 10 years in his plan. However, he passes away in the second year. At this moment, triple benefit payout under WOP gets activated. First, the plan provides a Rs 12 lakh life cover to the nominee, while the insurer pays Rs 10.8 lakh in future premiums. In addition, the nominee starts receiving Rs 1.2 lakh a year as income for certain number of years based on insurer. The policy continues, and the nominee receives the maturity value, helping protect the financial goal for which the investment was originally made. This also demonstrates how WOP can work alongside other benefits to protect a family’s long-term financial goal.
The facts behind the figures
While life insurance is now a familiar part of financial planning, WOP remains less understood. The claims data also shows that the benefit is closely linked to family protection. 35.2% of policies with paid claims had a child as the nominee, while 32.7% had a spouse as the nominee. The 30-40 age group accounted for the largest share of policyholders, followed by those aged 41-50. The top 5 states where the claims come from are – UP, Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab. The cause of most deaths in these cases remained sudden demise due to severe illness, followed by heart attack and accidents.
However, Policybazaar’s data also indicates that awareness and adoption of the benefit are increasing. The share of customers choosing WOP has risen from 3% in 2018 to 33% in 2026. This growing trust extends to long-term financial planning, with Policybazaar insurance partners managing Rs 15,586 crore in AUM for Policybazaar customers across financial goals that span years and generations.
The growing adoption of WOP suggests that consumers are beginning to look beyond the standard plans and consider what happens to the financial plan built around it.
