How does the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana work

One of the biggest gaps in the Indian social sector was the absence of a beneficial insurance scheme for people at large, especially people from the unorganized sector who do not have enough documents available with them to get conventional insurance policies. To provide some form of accidental insurance coverage, the Government of India introduced the PMSBY in the year 2015.

The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is an insurance policy that provides coverage against:

• Accidental death
• Permanent total disability arising as a result of the accident
• Permanent partial disability arising as a result of the accident

The number of road accidents in India is very high and given that the roads are not safe, having some form of financial protection is absolutely necessary. The PMSBY scheme is a step in that direction to provide a bare minimum financial protection in case of any such situation.

How does the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana work?

The first step to getting enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is to have a KYC compliant bank account. The premium collected as a part of the PMSBY is auto debited from the bank account which is why it is essential for the policyholder to have a bank account.

This insurance policy covers anyone between the age group of 18 years to 70 years.

The benefits under this policy are:

• Accidental death – Compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs
• Permanent total disability i.e permanent loss of sight in both eyes or loss of use of both hands or both legs – Compensation of Rs. 2 lakh
• Permanent partial disability i.e permanent loss of sight in one eye or loss of use of one hand or one leg – Compensation of Rs. 1 lakh

The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana does not cover death due to suicide. It covers any accidental deaths or disability due to natural disasters and also covers death by murder.

The PMSBY policy provides protection from 1^st June to 31^st May. The premium for the scheme is Rs. 12. This amount is automatically debited from the bank account which is why it is necessary for the person to have those funds available in his bank account. The bank will automatically debit this sum any time before 1^st June of the year.

The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana policy will terminate in case the policyholder reaches 70 years of age. The coverage will also terminate if there are insufficient funds to maintain in the policyholder’s bank account and the bank cannot make a debit transaction.

It is important to remember that an individual can enroll only once in the PMSBY scheme. If a person enrolls in the scheme multiple times through multiple accounts, the premiums under those schemes will be refunded and the additional policies will be cancelled. However, in case of a joint account, all joint account holders can enter into the scheme. This scheme is also open to an NRI. However, the accidental death or disability will have to have occurred within the country for the coverage to work.

To make a claim under PMSBY policy, either the policyholder or nominee has to fill up the claim form with supporting documentation and approach the bank. The scheme prescribes that the claim has to be filled up within 30 days and the claim settlement duration is 60 days.