Pandemic should not impact premium rates: HDFC Life CEO

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HDFC Life during the first quarter of this financial year revealed that the company witnessed a steep rise in death claims of around 3-4 times of the peak claim volumes in the first wave. The company paid over 70,000 claims during this period. In the video CEO and MD of HDFC Life, Vibha Padalkar told Money9 that the number of claims has gone down from the peak of April-May.  Moreover, there will be no big impact of Covid claims on the premium rates and the repricing that happened earlier was more of a coincidence than the impact of the pandemic.

She also mentioned in the interview that there will be no challenge for Covid survivors in getting a new term policy. Apart from the waiting period, the normal underwriting practices will be followed for the Covid recovered customers. She also talked about the hesitation in people for undergoing medical tests, which has in turn slowed down conversion rates for term insurance policies. On the other hand annuity policies along with non-participating plans, including Sanchay Plus, have been the growth drivers of the company.