Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1st February 1884.It started as a welfare scheme for the benefit of postal employees and was later extended to the employees of the Telegraph Department in 1888. In 1894, PLI extended insurance cover to female employees of the erstwhile P & T Department at a time when no other insurance company covered female lives. It is the oldest life insurer in this country. Over the years, PLI has grown substantially from a few hundred policies in 1884 to more than 50 Lacs policies as on 31.03.2021. It now covers employees of Central & State Governments, Defence and Para-Military Services, Public Sector Undertakings, Banks, Educational Institutions, Local Bodies, professionals (such as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, MBAs, lawyers etc.) and employees of companies listed with National Stock Exchange (NSE) / Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)

Rural ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Postal Life Insurance​

Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) was introduced in 24.03.1995 for rural people of India. The Malhotra Committee had observed in 1993 that only 22% of the insurable population in this country had been insured; life insurance funds accounted for only 10% of the gross household savings. The Government accepted the recommendations of Malhotra Committee and allowed Postal Life Insurance to extend its coverage to the rural areas to transact life insurance business, mainly because of the vast network of Post Offices in the rural areas and low cost of operations. The prime objective of the scheme is to provide insurance cover to the rural public in general and to benefit weaker sections and women workers of rural areas in particular and also to spread insurance awareness among the rural population