When you first buy term insurance, you pick a cover that fits your current life. Maybe you are single, renting a house and supporting only yourself. Ten years later, the same policy may have to protect a spouse, one or two children, a home loan and ageing parents. The original sum assured often falls short.
Life stage increase is a feature that lets your term cover grow in line with such milestones. Instead of guessing a very high sum assured on day one, you get the flexibility to step it up when your responsibilities actually rise.
This feature becomes especially relevant around two big moments in Indian families: marriage and the arrival of a child.
What is the life stage increase feature?
Life stage increase (often called a life stage benefit by insurers) is an add-on facility in many term plans. You opt for it when you take the term life insurance plan. Later, when a defined life event happens, you are allowed to raise your sum assured within agreed limits.
Typical events include:
Marriage
Birth or adoption of a child
Sometimes, taking a large home loan or a similar long-term commitment
When one of these events occurs, you inform your insurer and share proof such as a marriage certificate or birth certificate. The sum assured then increases from the next policy anniversary. Your premium goes up to reflect the higher cover, but the basic terms and health assessment of the original policy usually stay the same.
So, the feature does two things:
Links cover increases to real milestones.
Lets you expand cover without starting from zero.
Why term cover must rise after marriage
Marriage changes the financial design of a household. There are shared expenses, shared goals and often shared loans. If one partner passes away, the other has to manage:
Monthly household costs
Rent or EMIs
Any short term or personal loans
Long term plans such as education, retirement and elder care
A cover taken when you were single might not be enough to handle this combined load.
With life stage increase, you can raise your cover soon after marriage without going through a full fresh application. You tick the feature at purchase, then later:
Inform the insurer within the specified window after marriage.
Submit proof of the event.
Get a higher sum assured from the next policy anniversary, with premium revised accordingly.
This keeps the protection in step with your new role as a spouse.
Why it matters even more after childbirth
A child brings joy, but also long-term financial responsibility. The cost of schooling, higher education, healthcare and day to day living keeps rising with inflation. If the main earning parent is not around, the savings plus insurance payout must be large enough to support these needs.
Using life stage increase after childbirth lets you:
Add extra cover specifically to reflect the child’s future needs
Avoid redoing medical tests if the original policy was issued at standard rates
Keep a single policy and a single claim process for your family
Typically, you would be required to:
Inform the insurer within the allowed period after the birth or adoption.
Share the child’s birth certificate or adoption papers.
Accept the revised premium for the new, larger cover.
This creates a direct link between your child’s arrival and the protection you have set up for them.
Things you need to know
Before opting this feature, read the fine print carefully. Common conditions across insurers include:
Caps on how much you can increase
There is usually a maximum percentage of the original sum assured that you can add at each life stage and a total ceiling across all stages. For example, an insurer may allow a certain percentage addition on marriage and again on each child, but only up to a specified overall limit.
Premium changes
You do not pay extra just to keep the feature available. However, whenever your sum assured goes up, your premium is recalculated. The new amount depends on:
Your age at the time of increase
The remaining policy term
The total revised sum assured band
Age limits
Most insurers only allow life stage increases till a certain age, often in the mid-forties or early fifties. After that, the feature stops.
Eligibility based on health
The feature is usually offered to people who qualify as “standard lives”. Those with significant existing medical conditions might not be allowed this flexibility.
Waiting period and policy tenure rules
Some plans ask you to complete a minimum number of years or premium payments before you can request an increase. Others may require a certain number of years still remaining in the policy at the time of increase.
Interaction with other features
Choosing life stage increase can affect which riders or payment options you can pair with your plan. For instance, certain limited-pay structures or special payout options might not be available along with this feature.
Knowing these rules helps you avoid surprises when you actually need the additional cover.
How it differs from other ways of increasing cover
Life stage increase is not the only way to boost protection:
You can request a higher cover directly from your insurer. That may involve fresh underwriting and new medical tests.
Some term plans have a separate “increasing cover” design where the sum assured automatically grows by a fixed percentage automatically, irrespective of life events.
The life stage increase feature sits between these two. It does not raise cover every year automatically. Nor does it force you through a full new application. Instead, it focuses on specific, high-impact events such as marriage and childbirth and makes upgrading simpler at those points.
Who should strongly consider this feature?
It is particularly useful for:
Young professionals who expect their income and responsibilities to rise over the next 15 to 20 years
Couples planning to marry and have children in the near future
Families expecting large loans such as home finance
For them, it often makes sense to start with a reasonable base cover and then add more protection through life stage increase as big milestones appear, rather than overshooting on day one or juggling multiple term policies later.
Closing thoughts
Life stage increase turns a static term plan into a flexible safety net that can adjust to key events like marriage and childbirth. It keeps your cover relevant without constant guesswork or repeated medical checks.
If you are reviewing your protection after a recent milestone or planning to buy term insurance today, check how this feature works in the policy. Understanding its limits, costs and conditions will help you build a cover that actually grows with your life.
Disclaimer: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies (including product offerings, regulatory plans and business plans) and may change without notice. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Media Contact
Company Name: Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited
Email: Send Email
City: New Delhi – 110001
Country: India
Website: https://www.canarahsbclife.com/