Insurer Reviews

Why is there no ranked list of insurers on this page?

Because the inputs for one do not exist in public. IRDAI publishes settlement data by insurer once a year. It does not publish a like-for-like quality score. Anything else you have seen ranked is either an aggregate of the same IRDAI figure or a marketing exercise.

So this page ranks the questions instead of the companies. Ask them in this order and the choice usually makes itself.

1. How many claims does this insurer actually decide each year? Volume decides whether the ratio means anything.
2. What is the settlement ratio, read against that volume?
3. How long does it take to pay, and what share of the claimed amount is paid?
4. What is the solvency ratio? A settled claim needs a solvent insurer behind it.
5. Have you disclosed everything on the proposal form? This is the one you control.

What does IRDAI data say about life insurers?

These are individual death claim settlement ratios for FY 2024-25, as published by the insurers from IRDAI data.

Four insurers is not the whole market, and we are not pretending otherwise. These are the insurers whose figures we have checked. The IRDAI Annual Report for 2024-25 was published on 30 December 2025 and carries the full industry tables.

Why is a 96% ratio a better signal than a 99% one?

Because of the denominator. A settlement ratio is one year’s sum. It is the share of individual death claims the insurer settled, out of those it decided. It is not the chance that your claim will pay.

A 99% ratio built on 5,000 claims is weaker than a 96% ratio built on 8,00,000. The small sample can move a full point on a few dozen disputed cases. The large one cannot. LIC’s 96.42% is measured across a book so big that the number is close to a real rate. The private ratios are truer than they are precise.

This does not make LIC the right insurer for you. Price, product design, service and online claim handling all differ. A term plan from a high-ratio private insurer is often cheaper for the same cover. It does mean this. A gap of 0.7 percentage points between two private insurers is noise. Choosing on it is a mistake. Our page on claim settlement ratio works through the arithmetic in full.

What the ratio does not include

It covers individual death claims only. It says nothing about health claims, motor claims, or how many rupees of a claim were actually paid. An insurer can settle a claim in part and still count it as settled. Read the amount-settled ratio and the average settlement time next to it. For health cover, read the health insurance claim ratio instead. A life ratio tells you nothing about a hospital bill.

Which insurers are missing here, and why?

General and health insurers are missing. So are most life insurers. We are not listing them with placeholder figures. Health insurers report claim ratios on a different basis from life insurers. The two do not compare. We have not checked those figures at source. When we have, they will appear with the date and the source attached, like every other figure on this site.

What actually decides whether your claim is paid?

Not the insurer’s ratio. The single biggest cause of rejection is non-disclosure at the proposal stage, and that is entirely within your control.

Declare every medical condition, every prior policy, your real income, your real smoking status and any dangerous occupation or hobby. A policy issued on a false answer is a policy the insurer can contest. Once a claim is rejected on non-disclosure, the ratio of the company you chose is irrelevant to you. See the common claim rejection reasons before you fill the form, not after.

A delayed or unfair denial has a defined escalation path. Start with the insurer’s grievance officer. Then IRDAI’s Bima Bharosa system. Then the Insurance Ombudsman. Our page on IRDAI rules and grievance redressal sets out the order. Ready to buy? Start with term insurance.