Jan Dhan life cover: FinMin may announce final norms by Friday

The Union Finance Ministry is likely to announce by this Friday the final structure of the proposed Rs 30,000 life cover being provided with new bank accounts being opened under the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana.
"We have discussed a draft proposal on the structure of the life cover policy with the Department of Economic Affairs Director N Srinivas Rao in New Delhi today," a senior Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) official told PTI here after the meeting.
"The finance ministry is likely to announce the final structure of the live insurance policy by Friday," an official who did not wish to be named said, adding that LIC has called an internal meeting to discuss details, the outcome of which would be shared with North Block later.

PTI reported yesterday that the ministry had called a meeting of LIC officials today in the capital, to seek details about the structure of the Rs 30,000 life cover being provided with bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana between August 28 and January 26, 2105.
These accounts will also get a Rs 1 lakh accident cover and a Rs 5,000 overdraft facility.
LIC is mandated with providing this life cover to around 7.5 crore people under the plan, but the corporation is looking at covering around half of them, the official said.

"Even though the government is targeting to open 7.5 crore bank accounts under the scheme, we are likely to issue around two to three crore people only due to strict riders in the scheme, such as the account being linked to an Aadhaar number, and age limits of 18 at the low end 59 at the upper end," the official said.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already made it clear that the premium for the LIC policy under the scheme will be partly paid by beneficiaries themselves.
Only those who have either completed 18 years of age or whose maximum age is 59 years would be eligible for the life insurance policy under the scheme, he said.