Life insurance ownership rises with income

Mint Money is showcasing the results of the Indian Financial Scape survey conducted by Delhi-based economics research firm Indicus Analytics to track patterns of financial asset ownership. The third in the series looks at life insurance policy ownership pattern in urban India. The data is broken across income groups and regional patterns. At least 35,000 households were surveyed across urban India in April-June 2012. At the end of nine weeks, the survey will reveal what drives financial asset ownership in urban India. This week the survey shows that, on an average, almost 70% of households in urban India own a life insurance product. But there are layers within this broad number. Ownership is poor in lower income groups with less than half the households that earn less than Rs3 lakh per annum owning a policy. However, as incomes rise and approaches the highest slab of at least Rs1 crore, the penetration increases dramatically and averages around 92%. Lack of access and awareness seem to be the chief resons for this owernship pattern. The percentage of households in each region having the product is almost the same, however, once again it is the western region that leads in ownership.