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Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd., one of India's leading insurance providers, conducted an insightful study on the perceptions and preferences surrounding life insurance in honour of National Insurance Awareness Day. The report highlights key hurdles consumers face when purchasing life insurance or enhancing their coverage, especially the rising discontent amongst Gen-Z policyholders who remain unenthused by the lack of transparency, trust and commitment displayed by life insurers during the policy period.

Apart from covering perceptions around life insurance products and providers, the study also delves into important details such as major expectations from life insurance products, key influencers in the decision-making process, barriers for investing and the triggers for purchasing life insurance. The report also analyses the main intentions behind increasing policy coverage as well as the preferred channels and modes for purchasing life insurance. With 72% of respondents being existing life insurance policy holders and the remaining being non-owners or intenders, the survey throws up interesting consumer insights that serve to underscore the focus areas for insurers in the country.

The policy also highlights a few intriguing insights:

* While securing their family against future financial challenges remains the main driver for 83% of the respondents, more than 70% of life insurance consumers believe that they could secure their child’s education and medical emergencies expenses with adequate insurance coverage.

* Also, despite 89% of the participants viewing life insurance as an instrument to achieve future financial security, more than 50% believe it to be an appealing savings product that also offers superlative tax benefits.

* More than a third (39%) of those in the 45+ yrs age group have opted for life insurance to secure lump sum or regular pay-outs, indicating changing purchasing preferences as consumers age.

* Across the younger respondents though, aspects such as income protection and the potential to generate better returns than traditional saving instruments remain the top drivers to purchase life insurance products.

Speaking on the major opportunities presented by the study, Mr. Bruce de Broize - MD & CEO - Future Generali India Insurance elaborated,” For a country that is pegged to become the third largest economy by 2027-28, improving life insurance penetration can act as an important driver for overall economic development. To bring India on par with the global average, addressing the top barriers preventing the country’s citizens from securing themselves with life insurance is pertinent. Unsurprisingly, 44% of our survey’s respondents confessed to not having sufficient funds to invest, while nearly 40% cited their lack of knowledge about the benefits of life insurance and the increasing product complexity as the top reasons for not investing in a suitable life insurance cover. What’s more, a sizeable number alluded to poor customer care and tedious claim processing negatively impacting their perceptions of the trustworthiness, transparency, and commitment of life insurance companies. Recognizing these challenges and perceptions, insurers ought to spruce up their technology investments to reduce operational inefficiencies and introduce new-age financing models, supported by an enthusiastic team of customer service agents with a clear focus on supporting the IRDAI initiative of ‘Insurance for all by 2047’.”

Based on responses collected from 1300 respondents belonging to different age groups, income groups, genders, and key markets, the study also emphasized the growing popularity of online channels like websites and mobile applications amongst the intended target group, mainly due to the increased transparency and benefits on offer. Moreover, with ~70% of existing life insurance purchasers inclined to increase their coverage, insurers need to improve their customer outreach initiatives and capitalize on the immense opportunities presented by the country’s booming working population.