Urban India shifts focus to education, retirement planning: Survey

NEW DELHI: Fourth edition of the India Protection Quotient Survey (IPQ) was recently released by Max Life Insurance in collaboration with Kantar. The survey revealed that urban India’s priorities have re-baselined to the long-term objective of children’s education and retirement planning. Due to increasing immunisation coverage and a growing positive outlook beyond the COVID-19, the Protection Quotient of Urban India, witnessing a gradual rise from previous IPQ editions, has moved 3 points to 50.

The survey found the trend line to reflect a steady growth in India’s overall financial protection. It has led to people prioritising financial security over all aspects. The survey found a marginal increase in urban India’s knowledge index, from 68 to 69. Security index of urban India has also seen a rise of 5 points to reach 56 per cent.

The IPQ 4.0 was conducted entirely online between December 10, February 2021, and January 14, 2022, across 25 cities of India. It has come out as one of the most comprehensive financial studies carried out during the wave of COVID-19.

The survey found significant rise in uptake of term insurance in the last two years. Ownership has risen from 39 per cent last year to 43 per cent this year. It also reflected upon the increased ownership of other life-insurance products including savings and market-linked plans amongst the urban Indians.

Moreover, the survey underlined the key challenges that need to be addressed in the sector. Prashant Tripathy, Managing Director and CEO, Max Life Insurance, said that while India has recognised the true value of term insurance, current constraints are impeding efforts to raise awareness and acceptance all the way to the end. The IPQ study will assist in developing customer-centric methods to address these concerns, while also enabling collaborative accountability to increase consumer confidence.