Saral Pension promises higher liquidity than existing plans: Details here

Surrender, loan options will encourage those wary of illiquid annuities

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has asked life insurers to offer a standard immediate annuity plan named Saral Pension. The regulator has already made standard plans mandatory in categories like term, health, and travel.

Limited variants

Immediate annuity plans (where you pay an amount, called the purchase price, and start receiving a pension immediately) of most insurers have six-eight variants, making it difficult for customers to choose the right one. Saral Pension will have only two. The first will be life annuity with 100 per cent return of purchase price (RoPP). Here, pension will be paid