term insurance
Guaranteed Return Plans

Guaranteed Return Plans

Guaranteed Returns Plan is a type of savings plan that enables policyholders to save ample money to encounter long-term uncertainties of life. This insurance policy is suitable for customers who prefer making long term future investments.

A unique benefit of the guaranteed return plan is that it allows the customers to avail themselves of regular guaranteed income post their maturity term. The income amount is provided in the form of a predefined percentage of the sum assured amount. Customers have the flexibility to select their preferred income payout option either in the form of yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly basis.

Features of Guaranteed Return Plans

Guaranteed return plans come with a wide range of benefits and features. Given below is a list of the same. Let’s take a look-

  1. Guaranteed Return Benefit: One of the biggest advantages of investing in a guaranteed return plan is that it comes with the guaranteed return benefit which provides life protection to the policyholder as well as their nominees. The premium amount paid by the policyholder gets accumulated till the maturity period and they get it back along with the sum assured amount in the form of regular income.
  2. Risk-free Investment: Unlike most of the other insurance plans, there is a very low-risk factor involved in the guaranteed returns plans. This is because a guaranteed return plan provides assured returns, irrespective of the changes taking place in the insurance market and interest rates.
  3. Tax Savings: As per Section 80C and Section 10(D) of the Income Tax Act, customers can avail of tax benefits by paying the premium amount of the guaranteed return plans.
  4. Death Benefit: By investing in a guaranteed return plan, customers get the option to safeguard the future of their family as well. This plan provides assured income to the policyholder’s beneficiary/nominee member if in case the policyholder dies during the policy term. This helps the family of the insured person to manage their future expenses even during the absence of the policyholder.
  5. Additional Benefits: Most of the insurance companies offer a variety of additional benefits such as accidental death rider, premium waiver benefit, etc. along with the guaranteed returns plans. Customers can opt for these optional benefits to increase the coverage limit of their plan.

Best Guaranteed Return Plans in India

There are several insurance companies that offer Guaranteed income plans in India. This often makes it difficult for the customers to find the appropriate plan for themselves. To help customers in clearing their confusion, we’ve created here a list of some of the best Guaranteed returns plans available in the Indian insurance market. Let’s take a look at those plans:

Plan NameSum Assured RangeEntry Age
ICICI Pru Future PerfectMinimum- Rs. 3,00,000

Minimum- 18 years

Maximum- 70 years

Bajaj Allianz Save Assure

Minimum- Rs. 100,000

Maximum- No limit

Minimum- 1 year

Maximum- 60 years

Reliance Life Insurance Super Endowment Plan

Minimum- Rs. 100,000

Maximum- No limit

Minimum- 8 years

Maximum- 60 years

Max Life Assured Wealth Plan

Minimum: Rs. 1,61,225

Maximum- No limit

Minimum- 18 years

Maximum- 60 years

Tata AIA Life Insurance Guaranteed Return Insurance PlanDeath benefit multiple x Annualised premiumDepends on the policy term opted

1. ICICI Pru Future Perfect Plan

ICICI Pru Future Perfect is a savings and protection oriented plan. It provides customers with dual assurances of guaranteed benefits and life cover and complements the investment of the customer with bonuses that offer potentially higher returns. This plan comes with two special guaranteed features called the Guaranteed Additions and Guaranteed Maturity Benefits.

Features:

  • Guaranteed Additions: Under this feature, customers get additional benefits added into their plan throughout the policy term, but only if all the premiums due till that year are paid.
  • Guaranteed Maturity Benefit: With this benefit, customers get a guaranteed amount in the form of a lump sum payment at the end of their policy term. This amount is set up during the inception of the plan and depends on various factors such as policy term, age, gender, premium amount and premium payment term.
  • Flexible: Customers have the flexibility to customize their plan by selecting the premium payment term, premium payment frequency, sum assured on death and policy term as per their needs.

2. Bajaj Allianz Save Assure

Bajaj Allianz Save Assure is a life, non–participating individual limited premium endowment savings plan, that provides security to the insured and his concerned family members and also guarantees 115% of their sum assured at maturity.

Features:

  • Guaranteed maturity and death benefits: The best and most important feature of this plan is that it provides maturity benefit and death benefit of 115% of the sum assured, which is guaranteed.
  • Choice of Policy Terms: This plan comes with two policy term options- 15 and 17 years. Customers can select a policy term that fits their needs the best.
  • Monthly payout options: Under this plan, the nominee of the insured person has the option to take their policy benefit in monthly installments over a period of 5 or 10 years.

3. Reliance Life Super Endowment Plan

Reliance Life Insurance Super Endowment Plan is a non-linked, non-participating endowment plan that helps customers to save for their future along with the benefit of life cover to ensure the protection of their family members.

Features:

  • Life Cover Benefit: This plan provides a life cover benefit under which the nominee of the insured person gets the basic sum assured in case of unfortunate death of the life assured before the maturity date.
  • Maturity Benefit: Another important benefit of this policy is that it pays the basic sum assured to the policyholder upon survival of the life assured for the entire policy term.
  • Additional Rider Benefits: The plan comes with a variety of additional riders such as additional death benefits, surgical benefit rider, family income benefit rider and accidental death and total and permanent disability rider.

4. Max Life Assured Wealth Plan

Max Life Assured Wealth Plan is a non linked, non participating individual life insurance savings plan that offers guaranteed lump sum benefits to meet your savings goals.

Features:

  • Guaranteed Maturity Benefit: This plan provides customers with a fully guaranteed lump sum benefit upon maturity date to help customers in meeting their savings goals.
  • Flexible Premium Payment and Policy Term: Another special benefit of this plan is that it helps customers in building wealth by saving systematically by offering 6 different variants of premium payment terms and policy terms.
  • Death Benefits: This plan also offers death benefits to the nominee in case of death of the life insured during the policy term. The benefit is provided in the form of a lump sum payment that is paid immediately upon the death of the life insured.

5. Tata AIA Guaranteed Return Insurance Plan

The Tata AIA Life Insurance Guaranteed Return Insurance Plan is a savings plan that provides life insurance coverage along with guaranteed return benefits to help customers in securing the future of their loved ones.

Features:

  • Plan Options: There are three plan options available within this plan- Endowment, Regular Income and Whole Life Income. Customers have the flexibility to choose a plan that suits their requirements.
  • Additional Riders: This plan comes with a wide range of additional riders to help customers avail of wider protection.
  • Premium Payment Options: With this plan, customers also have the flexibility to select their preferred method of paying the premiums either annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly.

Factors To Consider While Buying Guaranteed Income Plans

Investing in a guaranteed returns plan is a big decision. That is why customers are suggested to pay attention to all the important aspects of this plan. Here is a list of factors that should be properly considered while buying a guaranteed return plan in India-

  1. Pick The Right Plan: As discussed above, there are a variety of Guaranteed return plans available in the market right now. To check which plan is right for you, it is necessary to evaluate your future goals first. If you have long term goals such as retirement, then it is better to opt for a long policy term and take a regular income payout option. However, if you have other goals such as children’s education or buying a house, then you should go for a shorter policy term that pays a lump sum payout on maturity.
  1. Select a Trustworthy Company: There are several insurance companies present in the market these days. But when you’re investing your hard-earned savings into a guaranteed return plan, it is important to buy it from a company that is trustworthy and holds the capability to pay back your returns in future. For this, customers are advised to check a few parameters such as the company’s claim settlement ratio, solvency ratio so that they’ll get a look into the past performances and market reputation of that company.
  1. Flexibility: Another important factor to check while buying a Guaranteed income plan is the flexibility offered by the plan. It is important to select a plan that can be customized as per your requirements and offers you flexibility in terms of paying the premiums and selecting the payout option.

Difference Between Guaranteed Return Plans and Market-Linked Plans

In addition to the Guaranteed return plans, there are also other categories of savings plans available in the market that provide customers with a comprehensive life cover. One such popular savings product is the ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plan) that offers attractive market-linked returns, along with life cover to safeguard the financial future of the policyholder. Customers often feel confused while deciding which savings plan they should opt for. That is why, to help such customers with clearing this confusion, we’ve given here an overview of the difference between Guaranteed return plans and market linked plans. Let’s take a look at it-

BasisGuaranteed Return PlansUnit Linked Insurance Plan
ScopeThis is an income and savings oriented plan that provides customers with guaranteed returns in the form of regular monthly income and a life cover.In this plan, a part of the premium amount is invested in market-linked avenues, and the other part is saved for offering a life cover.
Risk factorThe guaranteed income plan has a very reduced risk factor associated with it since the funds get invested in non-market-linked zero-risk avenues and the return is guaranteed and determined at the beginning of the plan.Under a ULIP policy, the risk factor is slightly higher as the money gets invested in equity funds, debt funds or hybrid funds and therefore, returns are based on market conditions and price fluctuations.
FlexibilityIn a guaranteed income plan, customers can enjoy only a limited level of flexibility as the investment avenues related to the guaranteed returns are decided at the beginning of the policy term.In the ULIP plan, customers can enjoy a greater level of flexibility as they have the option to switch between the funds as and when desired during the policy term. The insured can easily switch between an equity fund to a debt fund to secure your investment when the market is volatile.
Who should buy it?This plan works best for the low-risk policyholders who wish to get an assured return on investments that can supplement their primary income.This plan is ideal for the customers who wish to invest their funds in market-linked funds, and avail the benefit of life cover.

How Does A Guaranteed Return Plan Work?

As we’ve already discussed above, Guaranteed return plans offer a guaranteed amount of the sum assured upon the maturity period. To get a more clear picture of how the guaranteed return plans works, take a look at the sample working illustration of the Bajaj Allianz Save Assure plan.

Rahul- a healthy, 30 year old male buys the Bajaj Allianz Save Assure policy to secure his family. He opted for a policy term of 17 years and a sum assured amount of Rs. 5,00,000 for which he is paying a premium of Rs. 30,605 yearly. His premium paying term is 12 years. Now, on the maturity date, Rahul will receive his guaranteed return benefit in the form of Rs. 5,75,000 i.e. (115% of the Sum Assured chosen). In case any unfortunate event leds to the death of Ravi in the 7 policy year, then his nominee will receive the maturity benefit i.e. Rs. 5,75,000.

How Can You Buy a Guaranteed Return Plan?

Most of the insurance companies sell their insurance products online these days. You can visit the website of the company and buy their preferred Guaranteed Income plan online within a few minutes. However, if you don’t wish to opt for the online system, in that case, you can buy the plan by visiting the nearest branch of the company.

Claim Process of Guaranteed Return Plan

The claim settlement process of the Guaranteed Return Plan is very simple. If all the premium amounts are duly paid by the customer, then he/she can claim the policy upon the maturity date. Given below is an overview of the claim process of the guaranteed return plan.

  1. Inform the insurance company about your claim request.
  2. The company will ask you to submit a list of a few documents.
  3. Once you’ve submitted all the required documents, the company will verify them.
  4. If all the documents are verified, your request will be approved and your claim will be processed.

If in case the policyholder has died, then his/her nominee can file the claim by following the same steps given above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, insurance companies generally allow the customers to surrender their policy but only after the policy has acquired a surrender value. For detailed information about the surrender value of your plan, you should refer to the brochure of your plan or contact the customer support team of your insurance provider.

Most of the insurance companies provide loan facilities under their Guaranteed income plans. However, for more specific details it is advised that you must check your plan’s brochure.

Bajaj Allianz Save Assure offers a list of add-on riders in the plan. The riders available with this plan are:

  • Bajaj Allianz Accidental Death Benefit Rider
  • Bajaj Allianz Accidental Permanent Total/ Partial Disability Benefit Rider
  • Bajaj Allianz Critical Illness Benefit Rider
  • Bajaj Allianz Family Income Benefit Rider
  • Bajaj Allianz Waiver of Premium Benefit Rider
Here is a list of some common exclusions of Guaranteed return plans:
  • Death due to suicide
  • Death due to participation in any unlawful activity such as riot and civil commotions
  • Death due to alcohol and drug abuse
  • Pre-Existing disease
  • Death due to participation in life-threatening activities

Generally, the insurance companies provide their customers with a grace period between 15 to 30 days under which the policyholder can pay the due premium. However, if the premium is not paid within the duration of the grace period, then the policy gets lapsed. You will have to contact the insurance company to revive your policy afterwards..

Send your policy, along with the surrender form, to your local branch. Upon successful completion of the documentation, the refund will be credited to your account and the policy will be terminated.