Insurance is defined as equitable transfer of risk from one party to another, in exchange for a payment. Now let us apply this definition in real life. Assume a family of four – husband, wife and two small children. Husband is the sole bread and butter earner. By God’s grace he earns enough to fulfill all the needs of this family. But life unfortunately gives no guarantee. What if, God forbid, the husband is no longer able to earn. The whole family in this case is at risk, the risk of being left with no income. This risk can be covered by insuring yourself. In India, companies like LIC, SBI Life, ICICI, and may other Life Insurance companies, transfer this risk from us to themselves. In exchange, we have to pay them a cost (called premium).

We talked of risk in the above para. Risk can also be to health and well being, to a property or a car owned by you, etc. So what all risks can be covered in the first place?

Below we mention the different types of insurance available in market.

* Life Insurance
* Property Insurance
* Health Insurance
* Motor Vehicle Insurance
* Credit Insurance
* Accident Insurance
* Miscellaneous

The various insurance companies can be broadly categorized into private and public sector. Public sector insurance companies include

* Life Insurance Corporation of India
* General Insurance Corporation of India
* National Insurance Co. ltd.
* Oriental Insurance Co. ltd.
* New India Assurance Co. ltd.
* United India Insurance Co. ltd.

The private sector insurance has seemed tremendous growth in terms of the number of players operating in this space. Some of the private sector insurance companies in India are:

* HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* ING Vysya Life Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd.
* ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Iffco Tokyo General Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Metlife India Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd.
* SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd.

These companies can further be classified into life and non-life/general insurance companies.

Life Insurance companies are those which cover the risk of loss of life, or injuries during an accident, or sickness. Non Life or General insurance companies cover risk of damage to non life things such as property, auto, travel, credit, etc. Now that you have a general overview of insurance, you must be wondering what type of plans are available in market? Which one suits you, etc etc. We will cover more on that later.