HDFC Standard Life Insurance is a leading private Life Insurer in India and a provider of QROPS Schemes in India. The company is a partnership between HDFC Ltd., a leading housing finance institution and Standard Life, a global investments player. HDFC Life QROPS Schemes are one of the more popular schemes that returning Indians choose to transfer their UK pension to upon returning to India.
HDFC Life has a wide range of products under Protection, Pension, Investments and Savings category.
HDFC Standard Life offers seven QROPS schemes in India for those who are looking to transfer their UK pension to India.
- HDFC Life Guaranteed Pension Plan
- HDFC Life Personal Pension Plus
- HDFC Life Assured Pension Plan
- HDFC Life Click 2 Retire
- HDFC Life Pension Super Plus
- HDFC Life Single Premium Pension Super
- HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan
All these plans are recognized by HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) as suitable options for returning NRIs to transfer their UK pensions into an Indian QROPS scheme.
The above Indian QROPS are a mix of traditional and market-linked pension plans and annuity plans. For all pension plans bought by pension transfer from the UK to India, the vesting age will be 55 years or the vesting age mentioned in the policy, whichever is later. Irrespective of whether the Plan opted is traditional or market-linked, for pension transfer to Indian QROPS, the invested amount is locked-in and can be accessed only at the vesting age. The vesting benefit should be compulsorily used to buy an annuity. However, by the Indian Income Tax Act, 1/3rd of the pension corpus can be withdrawn as a lump sum without any tax and the rest has to be invested in an annuity plan.
A. HDFC Life Guaranteed Pension Plan
This is a traditional non-participating Indian QROPS Pension Plan which offers guaranteed benefits on vesting or on death. The minimum age for entry is 35 years and the maximum is 65 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
The Premium Payment Term can be 5, 7 or 10 years. The Policy Term can be 10-20 years. For QROPS transfer to India, the Policy Term has to be above 10 years and also, the policyholder should have attained 55 years. There is no option for purchase through Single Premium and to pay Top-up premiums.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be the sum of:
- Sum Assured – This is the absolute benefit which is guaranteed as specified in the policy.
- Guaranteed Additions – 3% of sum assured is paid on vesting, for each completed policy year.
- Vesting Addition – This is given as a percentage of Sum Assured and varies from 30-60% depending on the number of policy years was in force
Death Benefit:
Assured Death Benefit will be total premiums paid till date with a guaranteed rate of 6% per annum. The minimum Death Benefit will be 105% of all the premiums paid.
B. HDFC Life Personal Pension Plus
This is a traditional participating Indian QROPS Pension Plan which offers Assured Benefit on vesting or on death, with the opportunity to partake the profits of the company, in the form of bonuses. The minimum age for entry is 18 years and the maximum is 65 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
The Premium Payment Term for Indian QROPS will be equal to the Policy Term, which is minimum 10 years or the policyholder attaining 55 years, whichever is later.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be higher of:
- Assured Benefit of 101% of all the Premiums paid.
- Sum Assured which is the absolute benefit which is guaranteed as specified in the policy plus the accrued bonuses which are:
- Reversionary Bonus – It is a percentage of Sum Assured which is declared at the end of financial year.
- Interim Bonus – This is paid if the policy vests before the declaration of the Reversionary Bonus for the financial year.
- Terminal Bonus – This may be added at the vesting time, to pay a fair share of the surplus at the end. This is not a guaranteed benefit.
Death Benefit:
Assured Death Benefit will be 101% of all the premiums paid till date plus the accrued bonuses. The minimum Death Benefit will be 105% of all the premiums paid.
C. HDFC Life Assured Pension Plan
This is a market-linked Indian QROPS Scheme with Assured Benefits and Loyalty Additions. The minimum age for entry is 18 years and the maximum is 65 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
The Premium Paying Term can be Single, 8, 10 or 15 years. The Policy Term for Indian QROPS can be 10, 15 to 35 years depending on the policyholder attaining 55 years.
Loyalty Additions:
This will be added as Pension Multipliers every alternate year, starting from 11th Policy Year. This will be 1% of the average Fund Value for the preceding two years.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be higher of
- Assured Benefit will be 101% + 1%*(Policy Term – Premium Paying Term) of all the Premiums paid.
- Fund Value
Death Benefit:
This will be higher of the Fund Value or 105% of all the premiums paid till date.
D. HDFC Life Click 2 Retire
This is a market-linked online Indian QROPS Pension Plan with Assured Benefits and no charges for Premium Allocation and Policy Administration. The minimum age for entry is 18 years and the maximum is 65 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
The Premium Paying Term can be Single, 8, 10 or 15 years. The Policy Term for Indian QROPS can be 10, 15 to 35 years depending on the policyholder attaining 55 years.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be higher of:
- Assured Benefit will be 101% of all the Premiums and the Top-up premiums paid till date.
- Fund Value
Death Benefit:
This will be higher of the Fund Value or 105% of all the premiums paid till date.
E. HDFC Life Pension Super Plus QROPS Scheme
This is a market-linked Indian QROPS Pension Plan with Assured Vesting Value and the net premium being invested in an exclusive Pension Fund. The minimum age for entry is 35 years and the maximum is 65 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
The Policy Term can be 10, 15 to 20 years. The Premium paying term can be chosen by the Purchaser during pension transfer from the UK to Indian QROPS, within the specified age limits. Top-up premiums can be paid throughout the policy term.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be higher of:
- Assured Benefit will be 101% + 1%*(Policy Term – Premium Paying Term) of all the Premiums paid.
- Fund Value
Death Benefit:
This will be higher of the Fund Value or Assured Death Benefit which is the total premiums paid till date with a guaranteed rate of 6% per annum. The minimum Death Benefit will be 105% of all the premiums paid, including Top-up premiums.
F. HDFC Life Single Premium Pension Super
This is a market-linked Single Premium Indian QROPS Pension Plan with Assured Vesting Value and the net single premium being invested in an exclusive Pension Fund. The minimum age for entry under India QROPS Schemes is 45 years and the maximum is 75 years.
Premium Payment Term and Policy Term:
This is Single Premium policy with a minimum Purchase Price of INR 25,000 and Top-up Premium of INR 10,000. The Policy term is 10 years.
Vesting Benefits:
This will be higher of:
- Assured Benefit will be 101% of the Single premium paid and all the Top-up premiums paid.
- Fund Value
Death Benefit:
This will be higher of the Fund Value or Assured Death Benefit which is 101% of the total premiums paid including Top-up premiums.
F. HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan
The Annuity Plan offered by HDFC Life under Indian QROPS schemes is the HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan. This is an Immediate Annuity Plan which offers a vast array of annuity options and is recognized by HMRC under QROPS schemes in India. On the purchase of an annuity, the annuitant cannot access the corpus and there is no drawdown option. The annuity rate at purchase time is guaranteed throughout the lifetime.
Eligibility:
Minimum Age for Entry – For transfer of pension to Indian QROPS, the minimum age for entry is 55 years.
Maximum Age for Entry is 85 years.
Premium Payment:
This is a single premium policy where the minimum purchase price excluding taxes, should be sufficient to yield a minimum annuity of 1000 INR per month or 3000 INR per quarter or 5000 INR per half-year or 10000 INR per year.
Payout Modes:
The policyholder can choose to receive the payments either annually, bi-annually, quarterly or monthly. For transfer of pension to this Plan under Indian QROPS, the purchaser will start receiving the pension from the end of the first modal period.
Annuity Options:
This Plan which is a recognized QROPS scheme in India offers various options under Single Life Annuity and Joint Life Annuity categories.
Single Annuity:
- Life Annuity – Annuity will be paid only until the death of the annuitant.
- Life Annuity with Return of Purchase Price – Annuity will be paid only until the death of the annuitant after which the nominee will receive 100% of the Purchase Price.
- Life Annuity with Return of Balance Purchase Price – Annuity will be paid only until the death of the annuitant after which the nominee will receive the balance of the Purchase Price minus all the annuity payments made, prior to death.
- Life Annuity with a Guarantee Period – Annuity will be paid until the death of the annuitant or the agreed guarantee period, whichever is later.
- Life Annuity with 5% escalation – Annuity will be paid until the death of the annuitant with a 5% increase per annum of the annuity amount agreed at inception.
- Life Annuity with Return of Purchase Price in Parts – Annuity will be paid to the annuitant for 7 years after which 30% of the Purchase Price is returned to the annuitant on survival. On the death of the annuitant after 7 years, the nominee will receive 70% of the Purchase Price. On the death of the annuitant within 7 years, the nominee will receive 100% of the Purchase Price.
- Life Annuity with Return of Purchase Price on the diagnosis of Critical Illness – Annuity will be paid to the annuitant until the death and 100% of the Purchase Price is paid to the nominee. However, if the annuitant is diagnosed with any of the 6 specified critical illness before 85 years, the annuity payments will cease and 100% of the Purchase Price will be paid. If the annuitant survives the annuity period, 100% of the Purchase Price will be paid.
Joint Annuity:
- Joint Life Annuity with 100% annuity to the secondary annuitant – Annuity will be paid at a uniform rate until the end of life of the last survivor among both the annuitants.
- Joint Life Annuity with 50% annuity to the secondary annuitant – Annuity will be paid at a uniform rate until the end of life of the primary annuitant and 50% of it until the end of life of the secondary
- Joint Life Annuity with 100% annuity to the secondary annuitant and return of Purchase Price – Annuity will be paid at a uniform rate until the end of life of the last survivor among both the annuitants. On the death of the last survivor, the nominee will receive 100% of the Purchase Price.
- Joint Life Annuity with 50% annuity to the secondary annuitant and return of Purchase Price – Annuity will be paid at a uniform rate until the end of life of the primary annuitant and 50% of it until the end of life of the secondary On the death of the last survivor, the nominee will receive 50% of the Purchase Price.
Suitability:
The HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan, a recognized QROPS scheme in India is suitable for those people who have accumulated UK pension assets and have returned to India and are looking to draw from their pension corpus immediately.
