In a first, Max Life beats LIC in claims settlement

Private life insurer Max Life Insurance has overtaken Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to the best track record in terms of claims settlement for individual deaths in FY18. According to IRDAI's Annual Report 2017-18, Max Life settled 98.26 percent of individual death claims while LIC settled 98.04 percent.

"Four years ago, 50 percent of the rejected claims would be fraudulent. Most fraudulent claims occur due to lapses in the underwriting process," said V Viswanand, Deputy Managing Director, Max Life Insurance.

However, he said that now the company has introduced many checks and balances to strengthen customer applications and the underwriting process. He said that technology plays an important role in dealing with fraudulent claims.

In the year 2017-18, life insurance companies had settled 8,28,000 individual policies, with a total payout of Rs 14,623.82 crore. The number of claims repudiated/rejected was 9,286 for an amount of Rs 532.21 crore.

For private life insurers on a whole, claims settlement ratio rose by 1.52 percent YoY to 95.24 percent in FY18, according to the IRDAI report.

The life insurance industry's settlement ratio marginally declined to 97.68 percent in FY18 from 97.74 percent in FY17. However, no life insurer's claim settlement ratio was below 80 percent.