Max Life Insurance on Monday unveiled the findings of its flagship survey, “India Protection Quotient (IPQ 5.0)”, providing insights into the country’s financial preparedness and protection.
The fifth edition of the survey was conducted in collaboration with the consulting firm Kantar Insights. The study has covered over 30,000 respondents across the country since 2019.
The latest survey reveals that digitally savvy Indians are more aware and better prepared financially. It also highlights the financial preparedness among urban and rural Indians.
Riding on the back of a waning Covid-19 crisis, the biggest progress was seen in the awareness of life insurance products, as its ‘Knowledge Index’ jumped over 45 per cent since inception. It also showed that life insurance ownership rose from 71 per cent to 73 per cent since IPQ 3.0.
It said that higher awareness across categories is reflected by improved product ownership, including term insurance (30 per cent), market-linked (13 per cent), and savings plan (38 per cent).
The south zone remains the undisputed number one for five consecutive years in the “Protection Quotient”. Also, the metros and Tier 1 cities close the gap in life insurance ownership. The survey said that, as anticipated, the digitally savvy urban Indians were most protected.
“The digitally savvy urban Indians command the lead when it comes to Knowledge Index (72 per cent), ownership (79 per cent) and security levels (66%).”
Additionally, digitally savvy urban Indians reported an overall IPQ of 52 points, nine points higher than rural Indians at 43 points.
The security levels have also fared better than the pre-pandemic levels—from 66 per cent in IPQ 1.0 to an all-time high of 57 per cent during the pandemic to 63 per cent in the latest edition.
The IPQ 5.0 reported that “with respite from health-related worries, urban India has begun re-prioritising investments in savings plans for life insurance”.
It also showed an increase in ownership. The ownership went “up from 24 per cent in IPQ 1.0 to 38 per cent in IPQ 5.0., while term plan adoption rates have grown 50 per cent in five years.”
Prashant Tripathy, managing director and CEO of Max Life Insurance, said the survey was launched five years ago in an attempt to understand the country’s “behaviour and outlook towards financial protection—an important metric in determining the resilience of the nation.”
Tripathy further noted that “while the current findings of the study instill confidence in India’s trajectory towards financial independence, a challenging journey lies ahead.”
Soumya Mohanty, managing director and CCO of Kantar Insights, South Asia, said, “The India Protection Quotient played an instrumental role in serving as a valuable study that explores key consumer insights with a statistical lens.”
