Launched 9 May 2015; 22 months ago (2015-05-09) | ||
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a government-backed Life insurance scheme in India. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India's population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.
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Overview
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹330 (US$4.90). The Service tax exempted on Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of death due to any cause, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,000).
This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes.
Criticism
The banks have complained that revenue received will be very low. Some bankers have claimed that amount they are receiving is not sufficient to cover the service costs. Since this is a group insurance scheme, banks have not received instruction regarding cases where excessive claims are in a year. Insurers have also pointed out that no health certificate or information of pre-existing disease is required for joining.