Lok Sabha Question No. 3938 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-18
Subject: Rural Postal Life Insurance
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, Supriya Sadanand Sule, Ratansinh Magansinh Rathod, Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Kuldeep Rai Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3938 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 TH  MARCH, 2020

## RURAL POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE

## 3938.   DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI RATANSINH MAGANSINH RATHOD:

SHRI SHRINIWAS PATIL:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR S.:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  achieved  the  objective  of  Rural  Postal  Life  Insurance (RPLI) Scheme and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of various types of insurance products offered under the RPLI and the salient features of the same along with the number of such insurance products sold during each of the last three years, State/ UT-wise;
- (c) whether the number of policies sold under the RPLI has declined during the recent period and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to introduce various training programmes on the lines of similar programmes run by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority to increase the  base  of  RPLI  in  the  rural  areas  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  steps  taken  by  the Government in this regard; and
- (e) whether the Government has launched Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New  India  (DARPAN)  project  in  the  country  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  success achieved so far by the Government thereunder?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a) Yes, Sir. The Government has substantially achieved the objective of Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) Scheme. RPLI scheme is envisaged to provide insurance cover to the people living in rural areas in  general and to  benefit weaker sections and women workers of rural areas in particular.  As on date, there are 250.36 lakhs RPLI policies, out of which 80 lakhs policies have been issued to women living in rural areas of the country.

(b) Details and salient features of six (6) types of insurance products offered under the Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) Scheme are as under:

| Product Name                | Gram Suraksha (Whole Life Assurance)                   | Gram Santosh (Endowment Assurance)                                | Gram Suvidha (Convertible Whole Life Assurance)          | Gram Sumangal (Anticipated Endowment Assurance)                                                                              | Gram Priya                                  | Gram Bal Jeevan Bima (Children Policy)   |
|-----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| Maturity age/ Policy term   | At the age of 80 years or death, whichever is earlier. | At the pre- determined age of 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 58, or 60 years | Can be converted to an endowment assurance after 5 years | Policy term of 15 years or 20 years                                                                                          | Policy term of 10 years                     | Maturity age: 18 to 25 years             |
| Entry age limits (in years) | 19 to 55                                               | 19 to 55                                                          | 19 to 45                                                 | 19 to 40                                                                                                                     | 20 to 45                                    | Child: 5 to 20 Parent : Max 45           |
| Sum assured limit (in Rs)   | 10,000 to 10,00,000                                    | 10,000 to 10,00,000                                               | 10,000 to 10,00,000                                      | 10,000 to 10,00,000                                                                                                          | 10,000 to 10,00,000                         | 20,000 to 1,00,000                       |
| Survival benefit            | -                                                      | -                                                                 | -                                                        | Term 15 years: 20% in year 6, 9, 12 and balance on maturity Term 20 years: 20% in year 8, 12, and 16 and balance on maturity | 20% in year 4 and 7 and balance on maturity | -                                        |
| Loan facility               | After 4 years                                          | After 3 years                                                     | After 4 years                                            |                                                                                                                              |                                             |                                          |

Postal Circle (State/UT) - wise RPLI policies issued during each of the last three years (FY 2016-17, FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19) is enclosed as Annexure-I.

(c) No,  Sir.  The  number  of  policies  sold  under  RPLI  has  increased  from  4,05,793  in  FY 2016-17 to 5,23,899 in FY 2017-18 to 7,72,650 in FY 2018-19.

(d) To increase the base of RPLI in rural areas, sales force of RPLI comprising of Gramin Dak  Sevaks,  Departmental  Employees  and  Direct  Agents  are  given  in-house  training  through various institutions and licentiate training in coordination with the Insurance Institute of India, Mumbai,  an  institute  recognized  by  the  Insurance  Regulatory  and  Development  Authority  of India.

(e) To make optimum utilization of post offices across the country, Department of Posts has launched Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India (DARPAN) Project in all 1,29,076 Branch Post Offices in rural areas. Under the project, the Branch Postmasters have been provided  with  SIM  based  handheld  devices  for  carrying  out  online  postal  and  financial transactions. Till date,more than 29 crores transactions involving an amount of Rs. 34,728 crores have been carried out through the DARPAN device.

Annexure referred to in reply of para (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question Number 3938 to be answered on 18 th  March, 2020 raised by Hon'ble Members of Parliament Dr. Amol Ramsing  Kolhe,  Dr.  Subhash  Ramrao  Bhamre,  Shrimati  Supriya  Sule,  Shri  Ratansinh Magansinh Rathod, Shri Shriniwas Patil, Dr. DNV Senthilkumar S. and Shri Kuldeep Rai Sharma regarding 'Rural Postal Life Insurance'

## Postal Circle (State/UT) - wise RPLI policies issued during each of the last three years

| SL.NO.   | NAMEOF CIRCLE                                                                                      | FINANCIAL YEAR   | FINANCIAL YEAR   | FINANCIAL YEAR   |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
| SL.NO.   | NAMEOF CIRCLE                                                                                      | 2016-17          | 2017-18          | 2018-19          |
| 1        | ANDHRA PRADESH                                                                                     | 34728            | 66615            | 80679            |
| 2        | ASSAM                                                                                              | 5445             | 8309             | 32263            |
| 3        | BIHAR                                                                                              | 10628            | 17303            | 24265            |
| 4        | CHHATTISGARH                                                                                       | 13272            | 23372            | 21495            |
| 5        | DELHI (Including UT of Delhi)                                                                      | 1351             | 2373             | 2102             |
| 6        | GUJARAT (including UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman &Diu)                                       | 9069             | 13055            | 30495            |
| 7        | HARYANA                                                                                            | 3150             | 4579             | 4950             |
| 8        | HIMACHAL PRADESH                                                                                   | 9308             | 11076            | 11609            |
| 9        | JAMMU AND KASHMIR (including UT of Jammu &Kashmir, Ladakh)                                         | 2640             | 1565             | 2894             |
| 10       | JHARKHAND                                                                                          | 2752             | 14006            | 16444            |
| 11       | KERALA (including UT of Lakshadweep)                                                               | 11029            | 23327            | 36108            |
| 12       | KARNATAKA                                                                                          | 47278            | 41336            | 79929            |
| 13       | MAHARASHTRA                                                                                        | 28753            | 35770            | 51123            |
| 14       | MADHYAPRADESH                                                                                      | 29579            | 32629            | 53377            |
| 15       | NORTH EAST (including states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland &Tripura) | 24215            | 7603             | 13314            |
| 16       | ODISHA                                                                                             | 9313             | 26760            | 37395            |
| 17       | PUNJAB (including UT of Chandigarh)                                                                | 7677             | 7560             | 13710            |
| 18       | RAJASTHAN                                                                                          | 14938            | 9673             | 14236            |
| 19       | TAMIL NADU (including UT of Puducherry)                                                            | 92072            | 59102            | 120209           |
| 20       | TELANGANA                                                                                          | 7735             | 29916            | 21769            |
| 21       | UTTAR PRADESH                                                                                      | 26290            | 25727            | 28297            |
| 22       | UTTARAKHAND                                                                                        | 7035             | 7989             | 13310            |
| 23       | WEST BENGAL (including Sikkim state& UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands)                            | 7536             | 54254            | 62677            |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL                                                                                              | 405793           | 523899           | 772650           |

***************