Kotak Assured Savings Plan Review: 3.6-4.7% Guaranteed
Kotak Assured Savings Plan is fully guaranteed. On its own figures the return works out to between 3.59% and 4.67% a year - among the lowest of the savings plans, below a bank FD.
Is Kotak Assured Savings Plan a good investment?
Not on the return, though it is honest about what it pays. Kotak Assured Savings Plan is non-participating, so every rupee is guaranteed and contractual - no bonuses, no market risk, no scenarios. On Kotak's own figures, that guaranteed return works out to 4.67% a year on the 20-year term and 3.59% on the 15-year term. Both are below what a bank fixed deposit currently pays, and a Public Provident Fund returns about 7.1% - close to double, guaranteed by the government and tax-free.
So the "Assured" in the name is accurate: the money is safe and the outcome is fixed. What the name does not say is that the assured rate is one of the lowest available on any savings vehicle. Whether that is a problem depends entirely on what you are comparing it against.
What Kotak's own figures show
The maturity is Basic Sum Assured plus accrued Guaranteed Yearly Additions plus a Guaranteed Loyalty Addition, all set at outset. Taking Kotak's own examples for a ₹20,000-a-year premium paid for 10 years:
| Example | Basic Sum Assured | + GYA | + GLA | Maturity | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-year term | ₹2,49,212 | ₹1,10,000 | ₹49,842 | ₹4,09,054 | 4.67% |
| 15-year term | ₹1,50,910 | ₹1,10,000 | ₹30,182 | ₹2,91,092 | 3.59% |
You pay ₹2,00,000 in total in both cases. The 20-year term returns more because the same money compounds for five extra years, not because the plan is more generous - the underlying rate is simply low.
The Guaranteed Yearly Addition is where the sales pitch does its work. At 10% of your cumulative premium a year, it sounds like a 10% return. It is not: it is a simple, non-compounding addition to a pot, calculated on the total premiums paid so far, and it is already the reason the maturity reaches ₹4,09,054. Read as a rate on the money you actually put in, the whole structure lands at 4.67%.
How it compares
The fair test is to price the two jobs separately, as with any savings-plus-cover product.
- As savings: 4.67% guaranteed at best, against a PPF's 7.1% guaranteed and tax-free. On the same ₹20,000 a year, that gap is the difference between a comfortable outcome and a merely safe one.
- As protection: the life cover here is modest - a small multiple of the annual premium. A plain term plan buys many times the cover for the same money.
This is the arithmetic behind buying term and investing the rest: a term plan plus a PPF gives more cover and a higher guaranteed return than this single plan doing both. The one thing Kotak Assured Savings adds that a PPF does not is a fixed maturity date and an insured lump sum with no decisions to make - which is worth something to some people, just not 3.4 percentage points a year.
Then who is it for?
For someone who wants a guaranteed, insured, fixed lump sum on a set date, will not run a PPF or any market investment, and specifically values that certainty over the return. Its genuine strengths are that the figure cannot fall, the outcome is known to the rupee at outset, and there is no market risk at all.
None of that changes the rate. If you can run a term plan alongside a PPF, that combination beats this on both cover and return. If the realistic alternative is money sitting idle, an assured 4.67% is better than nothing - but it is worse than almost every guaranteed alternative it competes with, and far worse than the equity route over a 20-year horizon.
FAQs
What is the return on Kotak Assured Savings Plan?
On Kotak's own examples for a ₹20,000-a-year premium paid for 10 years, the guaranteed return is 4.67% a year on the 20-year term and 3.59% on the 15-year term. Because the plan is non-participating, these are contractual figures, not projections.
Is the return on Kotak Assured Savings guaranteed?
Yes. It is a non-participating plan, so the Basic Sum Assured, the Guaranteed Yearly Additions and the Guaranteed Loyalty Addition are all fixed at outset and do not depend on bonuses or the market. The trade-off is that the guaranteed rate, under 5%, is low.
Is the 10% Guaranteed Yearly Addition a 10% return?
No. The Guaranteed Yearly Addition is 10% of your cumulative premium added to a pot each year, not 10% earned on your money. It is a simple, non-compounding addition, and once the whole plan is expressed as a return on the premiums you actually pay, it works out to about 4.67%.
Is Kotak Assured Savings better than a PPF or FD?
Not on return. A PPF returns about 7.1% a year, guaranteed and tax-free, and most bank fixed deposits currently pay more than this plan's 3.59% to 4.67%. Kotak Assured Savings adds a small life cover and a fixed maturity a deposit does not, but a term plan plus a PPF gives more cover and a higher return.
Should I surrender a Kotak Assured Savings policy I already hold?
That depends on how many years you have paid and what you would do with the proceeds, and an early surrender can lose a large part of what you paid. Read how surrender value works first, and take a view that weighs the poor forward return against the surrender cost rather than deciding on either alone.
Related Guides
- Pillar: Life insurance explained
- Cross-cluster: Best term insurance plans 2026
Kotak Assured Savings Plan at a glance
| Plan | Kotak Assured Savings Plan, a non-participating, non-linked individual life insurance savings product. Returns are contractual and guaranteed. |
|---|---|
| Structure | maturity = Basic Sum Assured + accrued Guaranteed Yearly Additions (GYA) + Guaranteed Loyalty Addition (GLA), all fixed at outset. |
| GYA rate | 7% to 10% of cumulative annualized premium a year, by premium term (10% on the 10-year term). |
| GLA rate | 10% to 20% of Basic Sum Assured, by premium term (20% on the 10-year term). |
| Example, 20-year term | ₹20,000 a year for 10 years, Basic Sum Assured ₹2,49,212, maturity ₹4,09,054 - a return of 4.67% a year. |
| Example, 15-year term | ₹20,000 a year for 10 years, Basic Sum Assured ₹1,50,910, maturity ₹2,91,092 - a return of 3.59% a year. |
| For reference | a Public Provident Fund returns about 7.1% a year, government-guaranteed and tax-free. |
| Tax | premiums qualify under Section 80C and the maturity under Section 10(10D), subject to the conditions of each. |
Figures are computed by us from Kotak's own published Basic Sum Assured examples and its guaranteed GYA and GLA rate tables, for the inputs stated - arithmetic on the insurer's guaranteed numbers, not a projection. Basic Sum Assured varies with age, premium and term; the two examples are Kotak's own.
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16+ years in financial services. Former investment banker at Bank of America, Kotak Investment Banking, and SBICaps, and ex-CFO of slice. Founder of NYVO and Principal Officer - IRDAI Certified.
