The India Post expanded eligibility for Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI), allowing savings account holders of any scheduled bank to purchase the insurance, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said on August 14.
The change is aimed at helping policyholders who move from rural to urban areas maintain their insurance by enabling them to pay premiums through a savings account with any scheduled bank.
"With immediate effect, an operative Savings Bank Account with POSB or any Scheduled Bank is now an additional eligibility criterion for Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI)," the minister said in a post on X.
The revised RPLI rules now recognise an active savings account with either a Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) or any scheduled bank as an eligibility requirement. This allows customers to establish their eligibility using a savings account held with a scheduled bank.
The minister said the new provision removes the earlier requirement of rural residency, making affordable, government-backed life insurance accessible to more families.
The revised provision is especially beneficial for RPLI policyholders who relocate from rural areas to cities, according to Upstox. They will reportedly be able to retain their existing coverage and pay their premiums through a savings account held with any scheduled bank. The move is aimed at ensuring that policyholders can continue their insurance without disruption after changing their place of residence.
The revised rule does not make every scheduled bank savings account holder automatically eligible for RPLI. Instead, having an operative savings account has been introduced as an additional eligibility requirement for the scheme.
Applicants can provide any of the following as proof of eligibility:
"The process is simpler and more citizen-friendly. Eligibility can be established through CBS status, email statements, mobile banking screenshots, ATM statements or updated passbooks. Where acceptable digital proof is available, no physical bank certificate is required," he said.
RPLI is an India Post-backed life insurance scheme designed primarily to extend insurance coverage to people living in rural areas.
India Post launched RPLI on March 24, 1995, following the government’s acceptance of recommendations made by the Malhotra Committee to expand the reach of Postal Life Insurance to rural communities.
The scheme aims to provide life insurance protection to the rural population, with a particular focus on economically weaker sections and women workers. It also seeks to promote greater awareness and adoption of insurance in rural areas.
RPLI is available to individuals aged 18 to 43 years, with the maximum investment limit set at ₹10 lakh. The insurance scheme is widely used in rural areas.
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers.
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With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.
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Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’.
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He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.
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He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP.
<br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X
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