Accidents are a part of our life nowadays in one form or another.Although physical loss due to an accident is not possible to recover,we can lessen the impact an accident may have financially on our life.Accident Insurance is there to take care of that issue.
Currently available accident insurance plans are costly for most of the people who are more prone to accidents.Hence most of the people are not covered under insurance plans which makes life miserable after an accident if the victim and his/her family is not financially sound.
Government of India has launched a social security scheme for such people.This is Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).The scheme is an accident insurance scheme which ensures financial security to the needy at very low annual premium.Nearly 70 million individuals are reported to have subscribed to the scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Insurance Detail
PMSBY is an accident insurance scheme which ensures payment up to maximum of ₹ 2,00,000 to subscribers or their nominees in the event of an unfortunate accident at an annual premium of ₹ 12 per year (auto-debited from your savings bank account).Sum insured should be payable in the event of disability or death of the subscriber in any accident.
| S.No. | Event Covered | Sum Insured |
| 1. | Death | ₹ 2,00,000 |
| 2. | Total and irrecoverable loss of both eyes or loss of use of both hands or feet or loss of sight of one eye and loss of use of hand or foot | ₹ 2,00,000 |
| 3. | Total and irrecoverable loss of sight of one eye or loss of use of use of one hand or foot | ₹ 1,00,000 |
The premium has been kept at ₹ 12 per annum but it may increase in future depending upon the revisions in conditions time to time.However,most likely the premium shall stay at ₹ 12 for at least next 3 years.
The insurance cover is on yearly basis and renewable each year.Currently,the insurance cover starts from June 1 to May 31 of next year (2016) if you have subscribed on or before May 31,2015 which is extendable up to August 31,2015.After that the enrolment shall be possible prospectively on full payment of premium subject to certain conditions laid down.
Eligibility For Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
All individuals holding savings bank account with age 18-70 years are eligible for enrolment under PMSBY insurance scheme.Bank account is mandatory because payment shall made only by Auto-debit mode from your bank account.So,you have to give mandate for auto-debit payment option.
You may be holding multiple bank accounts but you can subscribe from one account only.In case,you enrol from more than one bank account,the premium paid from those extra bank accounts shall be forfeited while restricting the scheme to one bank account only.
If you close your bank account or there is insufficient balance in bank account,the insurance cover shall get terminated.However,if you have exited the scheme or defaulted on premium payment,you may join again by paying the required premium.
Exclusions from Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
1.You are excluded from the insurance scheme after attaining the age of 70 years.
2. If death or disability is resulting from other reasons than accidents like suicide,attempted suicide or intentional injuries or any other unlawful activity.
Enrolling For Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
To subscribe or enrol for PMSBY scheme,you would need to visit your bank account branch and file an application.If you have your bank account with ICICI Bank,you can subscribe by just sending a SMS “ PMSBY <Nominee Name> Y “ from your registered mobile number to 5676766.
For Punjab National Bank (PNB) account holders,send SMS to 5607040 with message PMSBY <last 4 digits of your saving bank account number><nominee age><nominee name>.
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana scheme can be useful insurance plan to all the individuals to cover the risk to some extent especially to low income group.The scheme is available at such a low premium.Moreover,If you are already covered under any other insurance plan,even then you can subscribe to this scheme because the cover provided under this scheme is in addition to the cover you already have.
