Abstract

Purpose: ULIP stands for unit linked insurance plans. ULIP is a combination of insurance and investment. Here policyholder can pay a premium monthly or annually. A small amount of the premium goes to secure life insurance and rest of the money is invested just like a mutual fund does. Policyholder goes on investing through the term of the policy – 5, 10 or 15 years and accumulates the units. ULIP offers investors options that invest in equity and debt. An aggressive investor can pick equity oriented fund option whereas a conservative one can go with debt option.

In ULIPSs the investors can choose their  portfolio, called the fund option, where their money would be invested, usually the insurance company offers Growth Fund-that is Equity share oriented, Balanced Fund-Which is a combination of Debt and, and Income Fund-which is Debt fund oriented.

The investors have a numbers of benefits from ULIPs viz. Higher Returns, Tax Saving, Wealth Creation, Investment, Flexibility, Liquidity, Professional Fund Management, Top-up Facility , saving, and Pension.

Out of these benefits, investors found Higher Returns, Tax saving, Wealth Creation and Investment as their key preferences due to which they purchase ULIPs. Also Age of the investors also affects the preferences of ULIPs.

Design / Methodology/ Approach-The study is based on the responses gathered through structured questionnaires. The convenient sampling has been used. Sample size of 140 respondents from Delhi NCR region who have Life insurance policy of LIC/and Birla Sun Life Insurance.

 Findings- Out of the various  benefits from ULIPs , the  investors found Higher Returns, Tax saving, Wealth Creation and Investment as their key preferences due to which they purchase ULIPs. Also Age of the investors also affects the preferences of ULIPs.

 Limitations- The study has been conducted in Delhi NCR region and the sample are 140, so the results may not hold apt on pan India bases.

Practical Implications:  As found in the study that Higher Returns, Tax Saving Benefits, Wealth Creation and Investment are the key benefits which motivate investors to buy ULIPs, the insurance companies must design some products which give maximum benefit in a single ULIP.

Originality/Value- The paper includes practical aspects ULIP, and  the companies which are following modern marketing tactics in innovating ULIPs and also includes literature review about the various aspects of ULIPs.

Key words: Unit Linked Insurance Plans, Policy-holder,  Portfolio, Growth Fund, Balanced Fund , Income Fund, Pension