Duplicate LIC Policy Bond

LIC Bond is the document issued by the company when you purchase an insurance policy. Purchasing an insurance policy requires several steps, and the policy bond is furnished when LIC gives its approval after scrutiny of all the submitted documents.

When you purchase an insurance policy from LIC, you give your approval to the terms and conditions governing the specific policy, and the policy bond spells out these terms for your reference.

Apart from the term set out in the bond, it also provides the insurance policy details, the benefits, and privileges provided to you by the company. The cover for the policy commences after the acceptance of the terms and conditions provided in the policy bond.

The Importance of Policy Bond and its Safety

The policy bond is an important document as it refers to the contractual obligation of LIC to provide the necessary financial cover for the risk. This policy will be the main document that will be referred to for all communications involving your policy. This policy will be the primary document that needs to be submitted for the following:

Making a claimAvailing of a loanAssigning the policy

LIC would be able to provide a satisfactory closure to all the services only if the policy bond is furnished as requested. Hence, the safety of this document must be of paramount importance for any insured.

The loss of your LIC policy bond can have a direct impact on your policy and its benefits. Hence, it is important to have physical copies made of your policy. Also, store a soft copy of your policy on your cloud, which can be retrieved or accessed whenever needed. It is also beneficial to inform the family about the policy and its location where they can locate it during any emergency.

If you are taking a loan on policy, you need to submit the original copy of your bond to LIC. In such cases, remember when and where you had submitted your policy and inform your family members too. If in any case, you need to submit the policy to someone, take a written acknowledgment from that individual and make a copy of it for your record.

How to apply for a LIC duplicate bond?

LIC of India has instituted a detailed procedure to provide a duplicate policy in case of the loss of a policy bond. Since the procedure may take a lot of effort, it is important for you to thoroughly search your house, or office to locate your policy. Once you have ensured that the policy has been lost, you need to follow the below procedure to initiate the application for a duplicate policy:

1. Placement of advertisement

   You need to place an ad in a widely circulated English/vernacular newspaper of the state in which your policy was lost. This ad will be placed for a month, and at the end of the month, you need to submit a copy of the newspaper along with the ad to the servicing branch of the LIC. If no objections have been raised during the month when the ad was in circulation, LIC will initiate the proceedings to issue the duplicate policy. You need to now prepare the indemnity bond.

2. Submit the Indemnity Bond

   Since the LIC policy bond is a legal document, you need to submit an indemnity bond for applying for a duplicate copy. For preparing this indemnity bond, request for a form 3756 from LIC and print it on a non-judicial stamp paper. Confirm from LIC about the value of the stamp paper, which may vary from state to state. Once the Form 3756 is printed on the stamp paper, fill out all the details requested on it like the policyholder name, policy number, etc. and get it signed by two witnesses.

3. Fill the loss of policy bond questionnaire

   Once your indemnity bond is prepared, fill up a simple questionnaire provided by LIC regarding the reasons for your loss of policy bond. Some of the questions in the policy are:

   • Under what circumstances was the policy lost?
   • What efforts were made to trace the policy?
   • Was the policy assigned to any institution?

   After answering the questions, attach the last receipt provided by LIC, and fill up the details requested in the form, and sign it. You don’t need any witnesses for this form. Without the indemnity bond and the questionnaire, the duplicate bond won’t be issued.

4. Submission of Bond, Questionnaire, and Documents

   The following documents (any from the respective category) need to be provided:

   • Valid Photo Identity: Passport, Voters ID, PAN card, Driving license, etc.
   • Valid Residential Proof: Bank statement, Telephone bill, Electricity bill, Ration card, etc.

   Without these documents, the duplicate policy will not be processed. Along with these documents, pay the necessary duplicate policy charges, fees, policy stamp charges, along with GST at the cash counter of the LIC branch.

5. Issue of duplicate bond

   Once all documents are submitted, LIC will scrutinize it and process the application. If everything is in order, a new policy bond will be issued to you at the earliest. Before you collect the policy, you need to give your consent and collect the duplicate policy from the office. If this is not possible, the policy will be sent to your registered address.

   Placing an advertisement and indemnity bond may not be needed if the policy is lost due to the following reasons:

   • Policy is stolen
   • Destruction of policy by fire
   • Policy lost while in the custody of government office
   • Policy damaged or mutilated
   • Policy partially torn or damaged
   • Policy damaged by white ants

   In case the policy is partially damaged or lost due to fire, natural disasters, etc., the remaining portion of the policy needs to be submitted as evidence for the loss of the policy.

Conclusion

The safe-keeping of a LIC policy document is important because of the financial cover provided by it. If we take proper care and follow all the safety measures, we will not only ensure the security of our documents, but also the privileges that it gives.