Term Insurance

Term insurance is pure protection: you pay a premium for a fixed period (the "term"), and if you pass away during that period, your family receives the full sum assured. If you outlive the term, there's no payout and no maturity value — that trade-off is exactly why term insurance carries the lowest premium of any life insurance category for a given amount of cover.

Because the entire premium goes toward the cost of cover rather than partly into an investment, term insurance lets you buy a large sum assured — often ₹50 lakh to ₹1-2 crore or more — for a fraction of what an investment-linked plan would cost for the same cover. Most insurers also offer optional riders, such as accidental death benefit or critical illness cover, that add to the base protection for an additional premium.