ICICI Life Directed To Refund Amount Paid Plus Interest To Insured Person

Hyderabad, Dec.25 (Maxim News): The Insurance Ombudsman has directed the ICICI Pru life Insurance company to pay the total amount of Rs.12.50 lakhs plus interest on the amount (total Rs.23 lakhs) to Dr Jai Prakash Agarwal, who had purchased a ICICI Pru Premier Life Gold Plan policy, and paid three yearly premiums from 2008 to 2010, totaling Rs.12.50 lakhs. The Insurance company, surprisingly and suddenly resorted to unilateral foreclosure of the policy and sent a cheque for Rs.93,791-85 paise to Dr Agarwal in July 2017, even without sending him any kind of prior notice before such foreclosure.

As the Insurance company authorities were reluctant to concede his legitimate request for revival of the policy, Dr Agarwal approached the Ombadsman, through Athasniya & Athasniya Advisors, a consultancy services company. Managing Director of Consultancy, Mahesh Athasniya, informed the media at Hyderguda NSS, that they succeeded in the case, when the Ombudsman directed th Insurance company to refund the total amount paid by Dr Agarwal, along with interest at 8.25 per cent on the total amount paid by him.

To the pleas of Dr Agarwal, the Insurance company contended that the fund value had fallen down to less than 110 percent of the annualpremium and hence the policy had been automatically terminated as per the terms and conditions. The Ombudsman observed that not informing the Insurer about the revision of life cover when the premium was reduced, was a grave mistake on the part of the Insurance Company. “No sensible person would invest Rs.12.50 lakhs for nine years to receive Rs.93,791-85 paise. This has caused huge financial loss to the insured which needs to be compensated”.

Mahesh Athasniya said that following the Award given by the Ombudsman, the Insurance company has paid the award amount (Rs.23.42 lakhs) to Agarwal. Mahesh said that some of the insured persons were not award as to whom to approach in such cases, and thus the Insurance companies are making huge profit on this type of unclaimed investment policies. (Maxim News)