LIC New Jeevan Anand Review: The Guaranteed Part Loses Money
On LIC's own premium table, New Jeevan Anand's guaranteed maturity is less than the premiums you pay in. Every rupee of positive return depends on bonuses LIC may or may not declare.
Is LIC New Jeevan Anand a good investment?
Judged on what it guarantees, no - it goes backwards. On LIC's own premium table, a 30-year-old taking a ₹2,00,000 New Jeevan Anand policy over 25 years pays ₹9,810 a year, ₹2,45,250 in total, for a guaranteed maturity of ₹2,00,000. You are contractually promised back less than you pay in: a guaranteed return of about -1.61% a year. Everything above that ₹2,00,000 is Simple Reversionary Bonus and Final Additional Bonus, which LIC declares at its discretion and does not guarantee.
This is not a flaw to expose so much as a structure to understand. New Jeevan Anand is a whole-life-cum-endowment plan: part of every premium is buying cover that lasts your whole life, not just the policy term, so the guaranteed savings component is thin by design. The plan can be defensible for the right person. It just is not the guaranteed wealth-builder the name suggests.
What LIC's own figures show
LIC re-filed the plan under the 2024 product rules, so it is currently sold as Plan 715, UIN 512N279V03; the widely-quoted Plan 915 was withdrawn for new sales on 1 October 2024. Taking LIC's own premium for the standard example:
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Entry age | 30 |
| Sum assured (guaranteed) | ₹2,00,000 |
| Policy term | 25 years |
| Annual premium | ₹9,810 |
| Total premiums paid | ₹2,45,250 |
| Guaranteed maturity | ₹2,00,000 |
Read the last two rows together. You pay ₹2,45,250 and the guaranteed maturity is ₹2,00,000. On the guaranteed cash flows alone, the plan returns about -1.61% a year - a contractual loss before a single bonus is counted. That gap is the price of the lifelong cover the plan carries; it is not money vanishing, it is money buying insurance rather than growth.
Where the return actually comes from
Every rupee of positive return on New Jeevan Anand is bonus, and bonus is not guaranteed. It arrives in two forms:
- Simple Reversionary Bonus, declared each year as an amount per ₹1,000 of sum assured, which accrues to the policy.
- Final Additional Bonus, a one-time addition that may be declared when the policy matures or a claim is made.
LIC has a long record of declaring both, and at recent bonus levels a policy like this tends to land somewhere in the 5% to 5.5% range once bonuses are counted - respectable, but below a PPF, and crucially not promised. The brochure does not state a bonus rate because there is none to state in advance; it is set each year by LIC's actuarial surplus. Any calculator that shows you a firm New Jeevan Anand "return" is quoting an assumption, not a guarantee, and you should read it as such.
How it compares
Split the plan into its two jobs, as with any savings-plus-cover product.
- As protection: the ₹9,810-a-year premium buys ₹2,00,000 of cover, though it is whole-life cover that continues past maturity. A plain term plan buys many times that sum for the same money, if you only need cover during your working years.
- As savings: the guaranteed return is negative and the realistic with-bonus return is around 5 to 5.5%, against a PPF's 7.1% guaranteed and tax-free.
The buy term and invest the rest comparison is stark here because the plan's guaranteed floor is below zero. A term plan plus a PPF gives you more cover during the years you need it and a higher, government-guaranteed return on the savings - the only thing it does not replicate is the lifelong cover, which is the one feature genuinely worth paying something for.
Then who is it for?
For someone who specifically wants cover that lasts their whole life alongside a disciplined savings habit, and who will accept a bonus-dependent, below-market return as the price of bundling the two. The whole-life feature is real: the sum assured is payable again on death at any age after maturity, which term insurance does not do.
If lifelong cover is not the goal, the case thins quickly. As a pure investment the plan's guaranteed component loses money, and its likely return rests on bonuses no one can promise. A term plan for the cover and a PPF for the savings beats it on both counts, with the returns guaranteed rather than declared.
FAQs
What is the return on LIC New Jeevan Anand?
On LIC's own premium table for a 30-year-old with a ₹2,00,000 sum assured over 25 years, the guaranteed return is negative - about -1.61% a year, because the ₹2,00,000 guaranteed maturity is less than the ₹2,45,250 of premiums paid. Any positive return depends on bonuses LIC declares, which typically bring it to around 5 to 5.5% but are not guaranteed.
Why is the guaranteed maturity less than the premiums I pay?
Because New Jeevan Anand is a whole-life-cum-endowment plan: part of every premium buys cover that continues for your whole life, even after maturity, not just savings. That lifelong cover is paid for out of the premium, which is why the guaranteed savings amount is low. The return you actually receive depends on the bonuses added on top.
Are New Jeevan Anand bonuses guaranteed?
No. The Simple Reversionary Bonus and Final Additional Bonus are declared by LIC each year at its discretion, based on its surplus, and are not contractually promised. LIC has a long record of declaring them, but a calculator that shows a fixed return is assuming a bonus rate, not quoting a guarantee.
Is New Jeevan Anand better than a PPF?
Not on return. A PPF returns about 7.1% a year, guaranteed and tax-free, while New Jeevan Anand's guaranteed component is negative and its likely with-bonus return is around 5 to 5.5%. New Jeevan Anand adds lifelong life cover a PPF does not, but a separate term plan buys far more cover for the money.
Was LIC New Jeevan Anand discontinued?
Plan 915 was withdrawn for new sales on 1 October 2024 under the new IRDAI product rules. LIC re-filed the plan and it is currently sold as Plan 715, UIN 512N279V03. Existing 915 policies continue on their original terms.
Related Guides
- Pillar: Life insurance explained
- Cross-cluster: Best term insurance plans 2026
LIC New Jeevan Anand at a glance
| Plan | LIC's New Jeevan Anand, currently sold as Plan 715, UIN 512N279V03 (the earlier Plan 915 was withdrawn for new sales on 1 October 2024). A participating, non-linked, whole-life-cum-endowment plan. |
|---|---|
| Illustration used | LIC's own premium table - a healthy life aged 30, sum assured ₹2,00,000, 25-year term, regular premiums of ₹9,810 a year. |
| Total premiums paid | ₹2,45,250 over 25 years. |
| Guaranteed maturity | the ₹2,00,000 sum assured alone, which is less than the premiums paid - a guaranteed return of about -1.61% a year. |
| The rest of the maturity | Simple Reversionary Bonus and Final Additional Bonus, declared at LIC's discretion and not guaranteed. |
| Extra feature | whole-life cover, so the basic sum assured is payable again on death at any time after maturity. |
| For reference | a Public Provident Fund returns about 7.1% a year, government-guaranteed and tax-free. |
| Death benefit | higher of 125% of basic sum assured or 7 times annualised premium, plus vested bonuses. |
The premium and guaranteed sum assured are from LIC's own New Jeevan Anand brochure; the -1.61% is arithmetic on those figures, not a projection. The with-bonus return depends entirely on bonuses LIC declares each year, which are not stated in the brochure and are not guaranteed, so no positive rate is asserted here.
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