🇮🇳 India

LIC Premium Calculator — Life Cover & Tax Benefit India

Calculate how much life insurance cover you need, compare LIC term insurance vs endowment premium side-by-side, and check your Section 80C tax deduction and Section 10(10D) maturity exemption. Covers LIC Tech Term, Jeevan Anand, GST on premium, and the term + SIP alternative.

Your total annual income before tax
Home loan + car loan + personal loan + education loan
Employer group insurance + existing LIC/private policies
Spouse, children, elderly parents who depend on your income

Try another scenario

How to Use This Calculator

Life Cover Needed tab

Enter your annual income, outstanding liabilities (home loan, car loan, etc.), existing life cover (employer insurance, existing policies), and number of dependents. The calculator uses the Human Life Value (HLV) method — 10x income for 1-2 dependents, 12x for 3, and 15x for 4+ — to determine your ideal cover. It then shows the gap between what you need and what you already have, plus an estimated term insurance premium to fill that gap.

Term vs Endowment tab

Enter the cover amount, your age, and policy term to see a head-to-head comparison between term insurance (LIC Tech Term) and endowment (LIC Jeevan Anand). The calculator shows the massive premium difference, the endowment’s low effective return (~5-6%), and the “term + SIP” alternative — where investing the premium difference in equity mutual funds typically builds far more wealth than the endowment maturity.

Tax on LIC tab

Enter your annual premium, sum assured, policy type, and issue date to check three things: (1) whether your premium qualifies for Section 80C deduction and how much tax you save, (2) whether your maturity proceeds are tax-free under Section 10(10D), and (3) the GST on your premium. The calculator checks both the 10% premium rule (for post-2012 policies) and the ₹5 lakh aggregate cap (Budget 2023).

Share your result

Every input is encoded in the URL. Click Share to send your exact scenario to a friend, family member, or insurance advisor.

How Life Insurance Cover is Calculated

The calculator uses the Human Life Value (HLV) method recommended by IRDAI, combined with a liability-adjusted approach:

Recommended Cover =

(Annual Income × Multiplier) + Outstanding Liabilities − Existing Cover

Multiplier by dependents:
• 1-2 dependents → 10x annual income
• 3 dependents → 12x annual income
• 4+ dependents → 15x annual income

Term vs Endowment premium ratio:
Endowment premium ≈ 40-50x term premium for same sum assured

Term + SIP corpus:
FV = SIP × [(1 + r)n − 1] / r × (1 + r)
Where SIP = (Endowment premium − Term premium) / 12

Section 80C deduction rule:
Premium must be ≤ 10% of Sum Assured (post April 2012)
Maximum deduction: ₹1,50,000 per FY (shared with PPF, EPF, ELSS, etc.)

The HLV approach ensures your family can replace your income for 10-15 years, repay all debts, and maintain their standard of living. The multiplier accounts for inflation and the time value of money.

Example

Priya — 30-year-old IT professional in Bangalore, ₹15 lakh annual income, ₹40 lakh home loan

Priya earns ₹15 lakh/year, has a ₹40 lakh home loan, her employer provides ₹10 lakh group insurance, she has 2 dependents (husband works part-time, one child). She wants to know if she needs additional life cover.

Step 1: Calculate cover needed

Annual income₹15,00,000
Multiplier (2 dependents)10x
Income replacement cover₹1,50,00,000
Outstanding home loan₹40,00,000
Total cover needed₹1,90,00,000

Step 2: Account for existing cover

Employer group insurance₹10,00,000
Cover gap₹1,80,00,000

Step 3: Term insurance premium

Cover needed₹1.8 Cr
Age30 years, female, non-smoker
Estimated term premium~₹8,000-₹10,000/year
Monthly cost~₹700-₹850/month

Step 4: Tax benefit

Premium (₹10,000) vs 10% of SA (₹18 lakh)Qualifies for 80C
Tax saving (30% bracket)~₹3,120/year
Effective cost after tax benefit~₹6,880/year

For just ₹700/month (effectively less after tax savings), Priya gets ₹1.8 Cr life cover for her family. An endowment plan for the same cover would cost ₹7-8 lakh/year — over 80x more expensive. By choosing term insurance and investing the difference in mutual funds, she builds wealth far more efficiently.

FAQ

The standard recommendation is 10-15 times your annual income, plus outstanding liabilities (home loan, car loan, education loan), minus existing cover (employer group insurance, existing policies). For example, if you earn ₹10 lakh/year with a ₹30 lakh home loan and ₹10 lakh employer cover, you need roughly ₹1 Cr + ₹30 lakh - ₹10 lakh = ₹1.2 Cr additional cover. The multiplier depends on your dependents: 10x for 1-2 dependents, up to 15x for 4+ dependents.
For pure life protection, term insurance is far more cost-effective. A ₹1 Cr term plan for a 30-year-old male costs ~₹10,000-₹12,000/year, while an endowment for the same sum assured costs ₹4-5 lakh/year — roughly 40-50x more. The “term + SIP” strategy — buy term insurance and invest the premium difference in equity mutual funds — typically generates 3-5x more wealth than endowment maturity over 20-30 years. Endowment plans effectively return only 5-6% CAGR after adjusting for mortality charges, while equity mutual fund SIPs have historically returned 12-14% CAGR.
Yes, LIC premium qualifies for deduction under Section 80C up to ₹1,50,000 per financial year (shared limit with PPF, EPF, ELSS, tax-saving FD). However, for policies issued after 1 April 2012, the annual premium must not exceed 10% of sum assured for the full premium to qualify. If premium exceeds 10% of SA, only the amount equal to 10% of SA is deductible. This deduction is available only under the old tax regime — the new regime (default from FY 2023-24) does not allow 80C deductions.
Maturity proceeds are tax-free under Section 10(10D) if two conditions are met: (1) for post-April 2012 policies, annual premium must not exceed 10% of sum assured, and (2) for policies issued after 1 April 2023, aggregate annual premium across ALL life insurance policies must not exceed ₹5,00,000 (Budget 2023 amendment). If either condition fails, maturity proceeds are taxable as “Income from Other Sources.” Death benefit is ALWAYS tax-free regardless of premium amount — this applies to both term and endowment policies.
GST rates on life insurance vary by policy type. Term insurance: 18% GST on the full premium (this is the standard service tax rate since term plans have no investment component). Endowment/traditional plans: 4.5% GST in the first year and 2.25% in renewal years (lower because only the risk portion is taxed, not the savings portion). For riders like accidental death benefit or critical illness, GST is 18%. GST paid on insurance premium is not deductible under Section 80C — only the base premium qualifies. As of March 2026, the GST Council has discussed reducing rates on life/health insurance but no reduction has been notified yet.

Related Calculators

Add This Calculator to Your Website

Embed the sum.money LIC Premium Calculator on your site. Free, responsive, always up-to-date.

<iframe src="https://sum.money/embed/in/lic-premium-calculator" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>