Abhinav Bhattacharya, a non-resident Indian often visited his extended family in India. While enquiring about available insurance options on behalf of his relatives, he was impressed with the various features the product offered. He was already a regular investor in the US and was quick to recognise a good financial product when he saw one. He wanted to buy a cover for his family too, but thought his NRI status would be a problem.

INSURANCE FOR NRIS

If the life assured is an Indian national or a person of Indian origin temporarily residing in the country of his present residence, he can get insurance. Even green card holders and foreign nationals of Indian origin can get life insurance in India.

He can remit his life insurance through Indian rupees if having an account in India or an NRI account. He can get insurance as per his eligibility in terms of his earning capacity.

NRIs can buy insurance in India in two ways. They could fulfil all the formalities while on a visit here. These would include getting medical examination and moral hazard reports cleared prior to their proposal completion.

The other option is completing these formalities from their present country of residence through mail order business. All or some of the formalities regarding filling in proposal forms, obtaining medical, special reports are completed in the country where they are presently residing. The proposal form must be signed by a witness who is a designated officer.

The sum assured could be limitless depending upon term and the type of plan. The amount of premium will vary depending upon the country of residence. These have been classified into eight groups depending on their risk perception.

The premium paying process is very simple. It can be done in any of the following manners:

• By direct remittance from the country of his residence through banking channels.
• By cheques drawn on non-resident account or foreign currency account with a bank in India. Non-resident ordinary accounts are used to deposit earnings made in India. These cannot be convertible in to foreign currency.
• By cheques drawn on bank accounts held in India in own name, either solely or jointly with a family member.
• By cheques or cash by a resident parent or spouse of the policyholder.
• By absolute assignee in India wherever such policies have been assigned to a resident of India.
• By employers in respect of policies issued to their employees who have been deputed abroad by them.

CLAIMS

The claims, maturity proceeds or the surrender value on NRI life insurance policies is remitted in rupees only.But at the same time, if he is paying through NRI account (foreign currency), he can get his various claim proceeds in his NRI account. This means that as per the latest RBI guidelines, his money is fully repatriable. There are few restrictions in selected countries to get insurance.

The writer is director, Bharat Parekh Financial & Insurance Services