Women-specific insurance plans are in vogue. Should you go for them?

MUMBAI: Parents looking to save for their children's education have always been the biggest target group for life insurers, followed by those planning for retirement. Of late, however, companies have started focussing on another category of prospective policyholders - women.

The latest entrant in this space is HDFC Life, which unveiled a Ulip customised for women on Friday. "The contribution of women to economic activity in India has seen a significant rise over the last decade. Financially independent woman who actively manage their financial goals is a mega trend of this decade," says Sanjay Tripathy, executive vice-president and head, marketing, direct channels, HDFC Life.

The insurer's product is being positioned as a instrument for women to help meet their financial goals, in addition to catering to her critical life stage needs - motherhood, diseases that women are prone to certain ages (like cancer) or loss of spouse.

Depending on the option chosen, it provides a three-year premium waiver benefit as well as cash pay-out in case of certain occurrences like diagnosis of cancer or death of spouse.

Prior to this, the space has seen two women-centric insurance products - a critical illness rider from Aegon Religare Life and Bajaj Allianz General's critical illness cover - in the last four months.

PSU behemoth LIC, too, offers a women-specific product named Jeevan Bharti-I, which covers congenital conditions, apart from offering a three-year premium holiday.

Congenital disabilities mean conditions infants may be born with. These covers pay for expenses incurred by the woman towards her child's treatment in such cases.

Most regular policies and critical illness covers exclude congenital diseases from the list of ailments eligible for claim. Now, women-specific covers may seem like tailor-made products capable of taking care of all your needs.

However, like in case of all financial products, you need to scrutinise its features, terms and conditions, charges and of course its compatibility with your goals before making the purchase.