If you are the only bread winner in the family but don’t have too much to spare for insurance policies, then Term Insurance is the place to start with.

So what is Term Insurance?

It is a life insurance plan which provides a pre-stated benefit upon the policyholder’s demise, provided that the death occurs within a certain specified time period (read, policy term).

However, the policy does not provide any returns beyond the stated benefit, unlike certain insurance policies which allow investors to share in returns from the insurance company’s investment portfolio. Therefore, it is an insurance plan that covers only risk. Also read Term insurance in India

Put simply, you don’t get any money back if you are alive when the policy matures. But you get substantial coverage by paying a small sum, as low as Rs 2000 /year.

So even if your income is not much you can still get started on protecting yourself.  One should consider taking term life insurance at an early age, since the earlier one takes it, the lower the premiums.

Now that you are familiar with the idea of Term Insurance, we detail a few good plans for you:

ICICI Prudential’s iProtect Term Insurance Plan

Unlike conventional “level term” plans , this one is a new age product. One can buy it online, as well as deposit premiums using internet banking facility or credit card facility of the insured. The policy holder does not have to physically visit an insurance agent in this case.

Key Characteristics

Death benefit - ICICI Prudential’s iProtect term insurance plan provides you two options within the same plan, based on the insured person’s protection needs.

•   iProtect Option I : Where the Death Benefit paid out to the nominee is equal to the Sum Assured.
•   iProtect Option II : Where an Additional Death Benefit equals the base Sum Assured or Rs. 5,000,000, whichever is lower, and is payable in the event of the policy owner’s death due to accident.

The above benefits are subject to the policyholder having paid all due regular premiums  and the policy being in force.

So what if you want to insure yourself for Rs 25 lakh? Well, under this plan, you will need to pay Rs 2000 only every year for 25 years. The amount payable is once a year and is tax deductible. Download a brochure for ICICI Prudential iProtech term insurance plan

Instant life insurance cover – In cases where medical examination is not required, the life insurance cover begins immediately upon receipt of premium. However, the insured person will get risk protection only from the date of issuance of policy if he has to undergo a medical check-up.

Maturity benefit – Since this is a term plan, you are not entitled to any maturity benefit.

Surrender benefit – Again, this being a term plan, does not entail any surrender benefits.

The table below provides the indicative annual online premium (excluding service tax and cesses, as applicable) for various combinations of Age and Sum Assured for a healthy male (non-tobacco user), buying a policy term of 25 years.

Future Generali Smart Life – Online Term Life Insurance Plan

This is a pure term plan that can be purchased online.

Key Characteristics of Future Generali Smart Life Online Term Insurance Plan

Benefits

Death Benefit - In case of the demise of the life assured any time during the tenure of an in-force policy, the nominee will receive the Sum Assured and the policy will cease to exist.

Download a brochure for Future Generali Smart Life term insurance policy

Large Sum Assured Rebates - For policyholders buying large Sum Assured levels (in excess of Rs. 225 lakh), a significant discount/rebate is available in the tabular premium as given below.

Maturity benefit – As one would expect from a term insurance plan, the Smart Life policy from Future Generali doesn’t provide any maturity benefit.

Surrender benefit – No surrender benefits as well, since this is a plain, vanilla term insurance policy.

Riders - There are no riders available under the plan

AEGON Religare iTerm Plan

The iTerm Plan, available through AEGON Religare’s direct sales channels, is another term plan out there in the market.

Key Characteristics of AEGON Religare iTerm Plan

Benefits

Death Benefit - In case of your unfortunate demise, your nominee will be entitled to the the Sum Assured. Death benefit, if payable during the grace period, will be paid out after the deduction of the outstanding policy premium.

Download a brochure for the Aegon Religare iTerm Plan

Maturity Benefit – This being a term insurance plan, there is no maturity benefit payable.

Surrender Benefit – Again, this being a term plan, does not offer any surrender benefits.

Kotak Life Insurance e-Preferred Term Insurance Plan

Kotak e-Preferred Term is a pure risk cover plan. In case of the death of the policyholder during the policy term, his nominee would receive the Sum Assured as a lump sum.

One can also choose the ‘Step Up Option’ to increase his life cover, as and when certain important events (e.g. marriage, birth of child, etc.) take place in his life, adding to his financial liabilities.

Key Characteristics (Including Tax Benefits and Long Term Benefits)

Low Cost - The Kotak e-Preferred Term policy offers the benefit of high life cover at very economical prices. For example, a 25-year healthy male (non-tobacco user) looking to insure himself with a Sum Assured of Rs. 50 lakh – alongside a Step Up Option – has to shell out an annual premium of Rs.6,688 only.

If you are a woman or if you do not consume tobacco, you will be eligible for the same amount of Sum Assured at a lower premium.

Step Up Option

The policyholder can increase his Sum Assured without having to undergo any additional medical tests. The hike in Sum Assured is subject to any one or more of the following options he wants to exercise, pertaining to certain events.

One can exercise the Step Up option at one or more of the events listed above, as long as his overall revised Sum Assured doesn’t exceed 3 times the original Sum Assured.

The vendor, not surprisingly, will charge an extra  premium in return for providing this enhanced coverage. This additional fee depends on the policy term opted for by the proposer, and will be levied until the policy owner turns 45 or the policy lapses, whichever is earlier.

Download a brochure for the Kotak e-preferred Term Insurance Plan

Step Up Option Fees

Step Down Option

Kotak Life Insurance also offers customers a Step Down option, wherein one can reduce his Sum Assured subject to the minimum amount of life cover available under the policy.

Put simply, the policyholder’s premium will be revised downwards based on his new Sum Assured target, as and when he subscribes  for this option. It won’t come for free, of course – for each ‘Step Down’ request, the company will impose a charge of Rs.500.

Plan Conversion Flexibility

You may switch from the Kotak e-Preferred Term to any non-term insurance plan provided by Kotak Life Insurance, without having to undergo any medical examination. The vendor will charge you premiums applicable under the new plan.

This conversion flexibility is available throughout the policy term,  provided there are at least 5 years before the protection plan lapses.

Tax Benefit

Those owning the Kotak e-Preferred Term plan are entitled to tax benefits under Section 80C and Section 10 (10D) of Income Tax Act, 1961.

Death Benefit

The death benefit payable under this term insurance plan is calculated as Sum Assured minus the balance of the premium (if any) payable in the year of death.

Maturity Benefit– None

Surrender Benefit – None

Suicide Exclusion - In case the life insured commits suicide within 12 months of the commencement of the policy or the revival of the plan, the protection cover will cease to exist.

So there you have our top four term insurance plans in India. We will be bringing you a comprehensive list of term plans very soon; visit us again!

It is very likely that the issue of outsourcing could be a key point that comes up during the November elections. The President has stated that the tax concessions should go to companies that create jobs in the US and not overseas.

Pointing out that the existing tax code provides tax breaks to the tune of millions of dollars to companies that create jobs and profits in other countries, Obama stressed on the fact that one of the main points to be focused on is encouraging companies to increase investment in the United States. This cycle is proving to be disadvantageous to the country, and in order to break it the President proposes to have a more generous and permanent extension of tax credit to companies that are involved in research and innovation inside the US. He expressed his opinion that if the country did have any tax breaks they should be going to companies that created jobs within the nation, not outside.

The President was delivering a speech on economy in the state of Ohio, and had the Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland at his side. Ironically, Strickland was well known for his support to Indian companies till recently, when after realizing that he was behind in opinion polls, he passed an executive order banning outsourcing. His argument is that outsourcing undermines the economic development of the US and has undesirable business consequences.

The IT sector in India has reacted to these US developments saying that the move is discriminatory, and is akin to a trade barrier. Recently the Indian IT sector was hard hit by the US raising entry visa fees for the H-1B and L1 visa, which was what most IT companies took when they sent their professionals to work on US projects.

The apex body of the IT and ITES industry says it will take up the issue with its US counterparts under the leadership of the Nasscom delegation, which will visit the US later this month. They have also sought governmental support to take up the matter with American authorities.

President Obama says that across America, people agree on the fact that rebuilding the infrastructure of the nation is the way for the country to once again be one of the leading economies of the world. And it is to this precise end that his administration has put together the six-year infrastructure plan that he was proposing. President Obama says this proposal will enable small businesses to upgrade their plants and equipment and encourage large corporations to start putting their profits into the economy. By putting Americans to work, the economy could start picking up, he said. He pointed out that due to the steps that his administration had taken, the economy is showing sure signs of recovery. This financial markets have stabilized and approximately three million Americans who were previously unemployed have a job due to the economic plan that was put in place since he assumed office.

The report states that the private equity industry in India is very vibrant with over 1,500 private equity deals done since January 2006 bringing in $32.5 billion in investments. Industry estimates point to investments from PE deals being between $ 9 billion to $10 billion by December 31, 2010.

The report also adds that funds for important infrastructure projects needed to support the seven to eight percent growth rate of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to be obtained in the form of capital gained from PE funding. The report mentions that India requires an investment of $1.3 trillion over the next three years to sustain a seven to nine percent growth in GDP and $60-100 billion of that investment will come from private equities.

An estimation of more than 135 domestic and 137 foreign PE fund managers in India is given in the report. It also states that PE investments over the last three years was calculated to be equivalent to 33-72 percent of the total equity gained from primary markets.

Private equities emerge as major sources for funds in crisis periods, with the main beneficiaries being micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The CII-KPMG report says that around 70 percents of investments from private equities in 2008 have been directed at MSMEs with a turnover of less than Rs 500 crore.

The report was prepared on the basis of a survey of 17 companies that received funding from private equities. Company management as well as PE firms were interviewed as part of the process to obtain inputs on the value addition from PE companies, other than the provision of capital.

The findings of the report also include facts such as private equity having a maximum impact on corporate governance, changes in the business model and professional talent management with a slightly lesser impact on development of the product and finding strategic partners. The least impact of PE funding was seen on financial recapitalization, creating spin-offs and new technologies and the improvement of efficiency.

According to the joint proposal, Raytheon Company is to provide electronics and infrared imaging sights, which will improve greatly the target-accuracy as well as enhance the overall system lethality of the T-72 tanks on the battlefield, Fritz Treyz, vice-president (India operations) of Raytheon Network Centric Systems, said in a statement.

L&T will make available the sensors and the fire-control system of the T-72 tanks as also execute the final integration, together with customer support, according to M V Kotwal, senior executive vice-president of Larsen and Toubro.

Larsen and Toubro, Kotwal said, is the only company in India in the private sector which leads the tank-upgrading programme and that the combination of L&T and Raytheon Company has the capability to execute a project like upgrading the T-72 tanks.

The T-72 tank, designed by the erstwhile Soviet Union, is a main battle tank (MBT), which entered production in 1971. Both chronologically and in terms of design, the T-72 tank belongs to the same generation of tanks as the M60 series tanks of the United States, the Chieftain tank of Britain, and the Leopard 1 of Germany.

Fritz Treyz, of Raytheon, also announced that Larsen and Toubro and Raytheon Company are exploring other opportunities aimed at providing ‘net-centric’ solutions to modernise defence systems not only in India but also elsewhere in the world.

So far, Raytheon Company has supplied 20,000 thermal sights in over 15 countries.

Raytheon Company – the industry leader in the fields of defence, electronics, space, information technology and technical services – reported sales worth about $25 billion in 2009.

The signing of the civilian nuclear deal between India and Russia is set to take the civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries to new heights. According to Indian officials, with the pact in place, India is “virtually assured of a disruption-proof supply of nuclear fuel and nuclear technology for the future.”

The agreement – signed by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev – also gives Russia contracts to build 12-14 nuclear reactors in India.

Thus, India has become the key partner of Russia in the area civil nuclear power.

Sergei Kirienko, chief of Rosatom, Russia’ State Atomic Energy Corporation, said India is the “key destination” for Russia’s foreign contracts. Indian and Russia, Kirienko added, are finalising a commercial contract to construct 12-14 Russian-designed nuclear reactors at 2 sites in India.

Of these, 4 reactors will be built at the Koodankulam power plant in Tamil Nadu, where Russia has almost completed building two 1,000-megawatt units. Another 4 to 6 reactors will be constructed at the Haripur site in West Bengal.

Sergei Kirienko said the Russian nuclear reactors would be constructed using an advanced “flow-line technology” which will cut costs by 25%-30% and also reduce the construction time of each unit by 2 years.

Under the flow-line technology, work on 4 nuclear reactors will start simultaneously, instead of each unit being constructed separately. This, according to Sergei Kirienko, will bring down the construction time of each unit from 6 years to 4 years, as well as make possible commissioning of one unit every year. India’s nuclear deal with Canada is not signed yet.

Meanwhile, reports say that the civilian nuclear pact between Indian and Russia has made companies in the United States uneasy as procedural issues are still making their entry into India impossible.

A “nuclear mission” consisting of around 50 United States-based companies is reportedly meeting officials in the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi as well as the Ministries and Ministers concerned in an attempt to find out the “policy challenges” that keep the US firms away from India.

In related news, the French Parliament recently approved the India-France civil nuclear agreement unanimously.

The ratification of the Indo-French nuclear deal by the French National Assembly paves the way for France-based companies to construct nuclear power plants in India.

The bilateral agreement on the use of nuclear energy for civilian purposes – called the ‘Cooperation Agreement between India and France on the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy’ – was earlier adopted by the French Senate on October 15, 2009.

France was the first nation to have signed an agreement on a civil nuclear cooperation with India, just over 3 weeks after the 3-decade-old international nuclear trade embargo on India was lifted in 2008.

The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Group issued the India-specific waiver of the nuclear-transfer guidelines on September 6, 2008, and India signed the pact with France on September 30, 2008.

A statement issued by the French Embassy in New Delhi said that France-based Areva, the multinational industrial conglomerate that is mainly involved in the field of nuclear power; has been allocated the nuclear project site at Jaitapur, in Maharashtra, to construct 2 nuclear power plants initially.

Each of the 2 power plants to be built in Jaitapur will have a capacity of 1,600 megawatts.

According to the statement from the French Embassy, the actual contract for the first 2 nuclear power plants will be signed early in 2010.

The India-France civil nuclear pact provides for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors in France under safeguards. The deal also promises a lifetime supply of spent nuclear fuel for these reactors.

The agreement, however, does not prevent the transfer of technologies regarding nuclear enrichment and reprocessing.

The bilateral agreement makes it mandatory that reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel be done under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

With the ratification of the Indo-French civil agreement by the French Parliament, France becomes the second nation, after Russia, to have given India “unconditional rights” to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

Photo: Som Mittal, Nasscom chief

According to Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the country is already witnessing changes in trends that had been anticipated.

The economic activity in the country is apparently speeding up, the technology companies are hiring again, and acquisitions and mergers are on the cards.

On the many acquisitions that the business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are considering, Som Mittal said the BPO industry in India has been mainly eying countries like China and in Europe.

There are come factors, he added, based on which Indian companies look for acquisition, like seeking “to eave their footprints” on the English-speaking regions of the world. India has now attained the window to acquire capabilities in the English-speaking countries, since as much as 80% of the firms at present comes from those regions.

Though the first half of the fiscal has been rather flat, the vector has been right, and hence the anticipation of more growth this year as well as of a double-digit growth in the next fiscal, Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Forum of the World Economic Summit held in New Delhi.

The IT industry, however, is unlikely attain the huge growth rate it had recorded till 2007.

The growth rate of around 30% achieved for an entire decade is very hard to maintain, Som Mittal said. The IT sector, in the next 10-12 years, will get bigger at a compounded annual growth rate of 14% – that is, it is estimated to jump from the $50 billion in 2008 to around $225 billion.

The IT industry can achieve this goal only if it enhances its capabilities to meet the rising demand, Mittal warned, adding that, instead of functioning only in 6 major cities, the IT industry should move to 43 other cities that have been identified.

Even as Nasscom is upbeat about growth in the IT sector returning to good growth, Som Mittal said that it was too early to revise the guidance upwards.

The technology company Accenture has announced that it will raise its staff strength by 8,000 in 2010, mainly in the analytics department.

Infosys BPO, the back-office wing of Infosys Technologies, has said it will hire nearly 2,000 people by the end of this fiscal.

The decision to issue multiple-entry visas to traders was taken at a meeting of the Indo-Saudi Joint Commission held in at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

The meeting was attended by India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal Alireza.

A 10-member delegation of businessmen from India, which accompanied Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, also held discussions with senior officials of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce, on taking the trade between Indian and Saudi Arabia “to the next level.”

Reacting to the bilateral decision on multiple-entry visas to businessmen, Sharad Nandurdikar, of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said that a major hurdle has been removed. Indian business who wanted to come to Saudi Arabia to do business had to face visa-related issues every time, and businessmen from Saudi Arabia had similar complaints, Nandurdikar added.

Nandurdikar said that an important meeting will be held in New Delhi in early 2010 in order to address specific issues related to “processes and procedures” that affect two-way trade.

Adnan A Al-Nueim, secretary-general of Asharqia Chamber, of Saudi Arabia, said his country’s trade will certainly get a boost with the reciprocal visits.

According to Adnan A Al-Nueim, over 200 ‘Amerindic’ companies are at present active in Saudi Arabia.

Mongolia, which is supposed to have plentiful reserves of uranium, is the 6th country with which India has entered into a civilian nuclear agreement after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) revoked the 34-year-old ban on India. The NSG ban had prevented India from trading in the areas of radioactive substances and nuclear energy with other countries.

Mongolia is believed to have about 6% of the total uranium reserves in the world.

India already has civilian nuclear agreements in place with the United States, France, Russia, Namibia and Kazakhstan.

The new agreement – called the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Development of Cooperation in the field of Peaceful Use of Radioactive Minerals and Nuclear Energy’ – will enable India to seek uranium from Mongolia.

The accord on nuclear power plus four other agreements were signed after detailed discussions held between India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mongolia’s President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in New Delhi.

After signing the pacts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters that both India and Mongolia have also agreed to cooperate strongly the fields of mining, agriculture, health, statistical affairs, and cultural exchange.

Besides, the two nations also agreed upon bilateral investment protection and on ways to avoid double taxation, and on boosting cooperation, including the issue of terrorism and UN reforms.

India promised Mongolia a stabilisation fund worth US $25 million in order to ease the ill-effects of the worldwide economic recession on Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia and the country’s biggest city.

Mongolia’s President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj said his country is “grateful to India for having provided stabilisation funds for the resurgence of its staggering economy.”

The visit to New Delhi is Elbegdorj’s first official visit overseas after he became President of Mongolia in June 2009.

President Elbegdorj is accompanied by a high-level delegation consisting of officials and businessmen, including the Minister for Education, Science and Culture; the Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Minister for Trade; and senior parliamentarians.
The Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade Agency of Mongolia (FIFTA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening cooperation between India and Mongolia in the fields of trade and investment.

Mr.Pranabh Mukherjee led a team of delegations in the absence of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who is undergoing a bypass operation. Indian president Pratibha Patil was also present during the signing of the MoU.

As per the MoU, the uranium-rich country Kazakhstan agreed to export uranium to India to enhance India’s civil nuclear agenda. According to reports, the MoU, between Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Kazakhstan’s state owned KazAtomProm, will also allow Kazakhstan to help build atomic power plants in India.

The terms and conditions of the nuclear deal will be discussed and decided later.

This will be India’s fourth major nuclear deal after having a successful extradition with France, US, and Russia.

Kazakhstan is the world’s third largest uranium producer after Australia and Canada and is likely to overcome them by 2010.

“On September 4, on the first day of the NSG meeting, Kazakhstan’s permanent representative made a speech strongly supporting India’s case. This was despite the fact that Kazakhstan suffered 500 nuclear tests conducted on its territory by the USSR in the 20th century,” Umarov was quoted as saying.

Apart from the nuclear deal, both the countries also signed four other treaties that included Kazakhstan’s access to the World Trade Organization (WTO); A MoU between the Indian space research centre and National Space Agency and between ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd and National Company KazMunai.

“It is a big step forward towards achieving our targets for generating nearly 30,000 MWe of nuclear power by 2020. This is a historic agreement between the two nations and would strengthen ties and bilateral cooperation,” Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh, who signed the agreement on the WTO accession, said.

Kazakhstan also showed keen interest in purchasing atomic reactors from India in the near future. Kazakhstan also invited India in mining uranium in their country and offer to provide the necessary expertise as well.

Kazakhstan has finished talks with 22 other countries for their accession in the WTO and India responding positively said that they would provide the Kazakhstani officials with elementary training to deal with WTO matters.

In one more agreement between the two nations, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited (OVL) and its partner company Mittal Energy Limited will now have 25% stake in Kazakhstan’s prospective Satpayev oil field in the Caspian Sea.