Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, May 09, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, May 09, 2002 |
|
|
|
|
|
Money & Banking
-
Insurance Insurance council to make fresh plea on service tax Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, May 8 THE Life Insurance Council, a representative body of life insurers functioning under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), would be making a fresh plea to the Government to reverse its decision to impose a 5 per cent service tax on the risk premium of the premium paid by individuals under a policy. "The Insurance council would make an appeal to the Government to do away with the service tax on risk premium on life policies as it would bring in a lot of complications in computing the tax and would also deter people from buying such policies,'' Mr R Krishnamurthy, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, told newspersons after the launch of its new group insurance policy here. However, he said that no firm date has been fixed for the meeting of the council. Mr Krishnamurthy said that life insurers would point out to the Government the complexities that might arise in the actual computation of the tax liability since calculation of risk premium portion would differ from person to person, year to year and would also depend on elements such as health of the insured, the nature of the occupation. "These things cannot be standardised,'' he said. Giving details of the new group products, Mr Krishnamurthy said that account holders of SBI would be provided a life cover by SBI Life after acquiring a consent from the person. The cover would be initially available to account holders of 10 selected high turnover branches here. The cover will be extended to a maximum of Rs 1,00,000. The premium has been fixed at Rs 360 per annum for the maximum cover for account holders in the age group 18-39. For those between 40 and 60, the premium has been fixed at Rs 500 for a cover of Rs 1,00,000. "We have kept the policy very simple. There would be no need for any medical examination. The person taking the cover would only have to declare that he or she is in good health,'' he said. SBI Life hopes to offer the cover to account holders of more SBI branches in a phased manner. "We hope to offer the cover in all our branches after some time,'' he said. SBI Life was considering offering similar group covers to Self Help Groups (SHGs). "Group insurance is cheaper. I hope such covers lead to higher insurance penetration,'' he said.
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|