Insurance is no longer men’s call, more women going in for risk cover

Anupama Verma has three insurance policies to her name and in terms of insurance protection, she is far ahead of her husband, who has opted for only one policy. Anupama is one of many women, who are playing an active role in deciding
matters of insurance for their home and family.
Buying insurance no longer remains a forte of men, women are increasingly taking interest in decisions related to getting a risk cover. Insurance firms, gauging the new trend, have shifted the focus of their sales and marketing campaigns on women.
“Women have a higher life expectancy and would need more funds to survive longer. Around 55 per cent of women at the age of 60 years are widows. Hence, they need to invest in insurance and pension plans for a regular income to be self-dependent in their old age,” says Leena Dhankar Joshi, head of life profit centre at Tata AIG Life Insurance. Out of the total 1.4 million customers of Tata AIG, 31 per cent (500,000) are women.
While women form 48 per cent of the population, only around 20 per cent of the life insurance policy owners are women. According to Joshi, women live longer and therefore need better financial cover to handle old age problems.

Sujit Ganguli, senior vice-president and head of marketing at ICICI Prudential Life, says women are now financially more aware and they are getting more involved in the investment process.
“There has been an approximate increase of 50 per cent in the number of women customers in 2007-08,” Ganguli said.
Women focus mainly on child policies, though they are as concerned as men are about other investment decisions of the family, he adds.
“When it comes to purchasing insurance policies, women certainly have an edge over their male counterparts. To begin with, the premiums that they pay for a given policy are lower than what men of the same age pay,” a Delhi-based insurance broker said.
Roughly women purchase about 35 -40 per cent of our policies, and those in the age group of 25-35 years constitute the highest percentage, he
adds.
If you consider the proportion of women employed in urban areas in relation to the total number of women employed, the percentage of those insured does not appear as low as it does in isolation.
With the emergence of a vast middle class characterised by high levels of education and urban living, women are making more and more insurance decisions and this trend will only increase.

Source: Financial Chronicle