Data-Backed Gyan
22 leading life insurers in India, compared across four dimensions that matter when you are buying a term plan. No composite score, no ranking. Just the data, side by side.
Data: IRDAI Handbook FY 2024-25 · Ombudsman Reports FY 2022-25 · Last updated March 2026
| Insurer⇅ | CSR↓by amount | CSR⇅by count | Gap⇅count − amount | 13th mo⇅persistency | 61st mo⇅persistency | Ombudsman⇅loss rate | Solvency⇅ | Claims⇅decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegon/Bandhan Life | 99.8% | 99.7% | — | 68.8% | 57.6% | 23.8% | 2.69x | 365 |
| PNB MetLife | 99.3% | 99.6% | 0.3 pp | 77.4% | 50.6% | 40.6% | 1.72x | 5.6k |
| Canara HSBC Life | 99.1% | 99.4% | 0.3 pp | 81.7% | 57.1% | 47.9% | 2.06x | 2.8k |
| Tata AIA | 98.6% | 99.4% | 0.9 pp | 83.2% | 56.7% | 40.9% | 1.80x | 8.6k |
| Aviva Life | 98.5% | 99.1% | 0.6 pp | 63.1% | 42.7% | 30.5% | 1.93x | 754 |
| Bharti AXA | 98.4% | 99.2% | 0.8 pp | 67.4% | 22.2% | 52.0% | 1.67x | 2.1k |
| Pramerica Life | 98.4% | 99.5% | 1.1 pp | 75.9% | 56.8% | 30.5% | 2.33x | 726 |
| Edelweiss Life | 98.3% | 99.3% | 0.9 pp | 64.6% | 47.9% | 44.3% | 1.81x | 560 |
| ICICI Prudential | 98.3% | 99.3% | 1.0 pp | 80.4% | 58.8% | 34.7% | 2.12x | 12.4k |
| HDFC Life | 98.1% | 99.7% | 1.6 pp | 81.3% | 52.4% | 36.4% | 1.94x | 19.7k |
| Max Life | 97.4% | 99.7% | 2.3 pp | 83.0% | 52.0% | 44.2% | 2.01x | 20.2k |
| Star Union Dai-ichi | 97.3% | 98.9% | 1.6 pp | 69.3% | 28.9% | 46.8% | 2.30x | 2.4k |
| LIC | 97.2% | 98.9% | 1.7 pp | 64.1% | 50.3% | 36.9% | 2.11x | 8.6 lakh |
| Ageas Federal | 97.2% | 98.8% | 1.6 pp | 77.5% | 44.0% | 35.5% | 2.70x | 1.1k |
| SBI Life | 97.0% | 98.8% | 1.8 pp | 79.7% | 54.8% | 38.4% | 1.96x | 44.7k |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life | 96.6% | 98.7% | 2.1 pp | 77.0% | 49.0% | 40.4% | 1.88x | 6.4k |
| IndiaFirst | 96.5% | 98.3% | 1.8 pp | 68.1% | 42.4% | 46.0% | 2.00x | 3.7k |
| Future Generali | 96.3% | 98.5% | 2.2 pp | 66.3% | 34.2% | 41.5% | 1.70x | 934 |
| Kotak Life | 96.1% | 98.7% | 2.6 pp | 79.1% | 55.3% | 28.8% | 2.45x | 4.7k |
| Bajaj Allianz Life | 93.8% | 99.3% | 5.5 pp | 77.6% | 51.3% | 39.6% | 3.59x | 14.1k |
| Reliance Life | 92.4% | 99.0% | 6.6 pp | 74.1% | 47.9% | 47.1% | 2.35x | 8.4k |
| Shriram Life | 86.7% | 98.6% | 11.9 pp | 59.7% | 25.9% | 52.2% | 1.79x | 4.8k |
Every number in this scorecard is computed from publicly available IRDAI data using the formulas below. If any figure is incorrect, contact us and we will correct it.
Source: IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics, Table 14 – Individual Death Claims: Paid, Repudiated, and Pending. Year: FY 2024-25 (primary), FY 2023-24 and 2022-23 (for trend arrows). The denominator includes only decided claims (paid + repudiated), excluding pending and unclaimed.
Why amount, not count: CSR by count treats a ₹5 lakh endowment payout and a ₹2 crore term claim as equal. CSR by amount reveals whether the insurer pays the large claims or finds reasons to reject them. The “gap” column shows the difference between count-based and amount-based CSR; a gap above 3 percentage points signals that the insurer settles small claims readily but contests large ones.
Trend arrows: Comparing FY 2024-25 to FY 2022-23. A change of more than 1.5 percentage points shows an arrow; otherwise marked stable.
Source: IRDAI Handbook, Table 15A/15B – Persistency Ratios by insurer. Year: FY 2025 (latest reporting period). Figures represent the percentage of policies sold 1 year (13th month) and 5 years (61st month) ago that are still in force.
The 61st-month figure is the stronger signal: a policyholder still paying after 5 years has found lasting value. The 13th-month figure is more affected by cooling-off cancellations and product-level differences.
Source: Council for Insurance Ombudsmen (CIO) Annual Reports, FY 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25. The figure shown is the average loss rate across all three years (pooled across all adjudicated cases). Only insurers with at least 10 adjudicated cases across the period are scored.
The denominator excludes non-entertainable complaints (procedural rejections), withdrawals (settled between parties), and recommendations (advisory). Only binding awards, where the ombudsman ruled on the merits, are counted.
Source: IRDAI Handbook, Table 17 – Solvency Ratios. Quarter: March 2025 (latest available for most insurers). The solvency ratio measures how many times over the insurer can cover its required regulatory capital. IRDAI mandates a minimum of 1.50x; below that, the regulator intervenes. The scorecard uses a 1.75x threshold for the checkmark because that provides a meaningful buffer above the regulatory floor.
Total individual death claims paid plus repudiated in FY 2024-25. This column exists for context: an insurer with 857,000 decided claims (LIC) produces more statistically reliable ratios than one with 365 claims (Aegon/Bandhan Life). Same source as CSR (Table 14).
The green/amber/red bands are Gyansurance’s editorial thresholds, not regulatory standards. They are:
| Metric | Green | Amber | Red |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSR by amount | ≥ 97% | 95 – 96.9% | < 95% |
| CSR gap | ≤ 1.5 pp | 1.5 – 3.5 pp | > 3.5 pp |
| 13th-month persistency | ≥ 75% | 60 – 74.9% | < 60% |
| 61st-month persistency | ≥ 50% | 35 – 49.9% | < 35% |
| Ombudsman loss rate | ≤ 35% | 35 – 45% | > 45% |
| Solvency | ≥ 1.75x (checkmark) | < 1.75x (flag) | |
These thresholds are judgment calls. They are published here so you can disagree with them. The raw numbers in every cell are the same regardless of the color.
Insurers with fewer than 10 decided individual death claims in FY 2024-25 are excluded. This currently removes Go Digit Life (2 claims), Acko Life, Credit Access Life, and Sahara Life (all zero claims). Absence from the scorecard is not a negative judgment; it means there is not enough claims data to score.
Data sources: IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics (FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25), Council for Insurance Ombudsmen Annual Reports (FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25). Last updated March 2026. Gyansurance is not affiliated with IRDAI or any insurer.