India’s life insurance landscape is undergoing structural shifts. More families move beyond plain vanilla term plans, and embrace more holistic protection through riders, and add-ons. According to a new report by Policybazaar, the adoption of add-ons such as accidental death benefit (ADB), accidental total permanent disability (ATPD), critical illness (CI), and waiver of premium (WOP) rose sharply across key segments. South India leads this transformation.
The report shows a clear regional divergence between the north and south. Rider attachments in the South average 45-47 per cent, which is more than double of the North’s 21-23 per cent. This surge is driven by ADB and ATPD add-ons, which indicates a higher awareness and greater appetite for complete and wider protection in the southern metros, and smaller cities and towns.
Cities such as Hyderabad (52-56 per cent adoption), Bengaluru, and Kochi show the strongest patterns, which makes South India the epicentre of the country’s rising insurance sophistication. The East remains steady at 32-34 per cent, and the West, which includes Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad shows moderate uptakes at 30-31 per cent. The weaker penetration in the northern cities and towns possibly represents a large untapped growth opportunity.
The riders-related profile varies sharply between men and women. Male policyholders show higher rider preference (30.3 per cent versus 25.8 per cent for women), with again a stronger tilt toward ADB and ATPD covers. Women increasingly prioritise CI riders, particularly those that include cancer screening, and long-term health protection. This signals that there is a rising health awareness among women, who now form a rapidly-growing segment of term insurance buyers.
Critical Illness rider adoption is concentrated in affluent metro clusters dominated by the young salaried professionals. Hyderabad leads with 12-13 per cent CI attachment, followed by Bengaluru at 10-11 per cent, which indicates a high concern over lifestyle-linked illnesses such as cancer and heart diseases. Kochi (9-12 per cent) and Mumbai (7-10 per cent) show strong penetration.
In several of these cities, one in every five new policies includes a CI rider, underscoring the rising demand for long-term health-linked protection. The Waiver of Premium (WOP) rider has emerged as one of the fastest-growing add-ons, rising from 4.7 per cent in July 2025, to 6.7 per cent in October 2025. This surge is strongly influenced by major metros like Hyderabad (15.1 per cent in October 2025), and Bengaluru (11.9 per cent). Women are the highest adopters of WOP, which indicates a growing focus on uninterrupted protection even during periods of disability or income disruption.
Customer priorities shift as the cover amount increases. For policies below Rs 2 crore, most buyers opt for ADB riders, focusing primarily on income protection. However, for higher cover levels, the trend reverses as customers increasingly choose CI riders to secure long-term medical and financial risks. This shift reflects a more affluent, risk-aware customer base that seeks comprehensive health-linked coverage, instead of death-only protection.
ATPD remains the most widely attached rider overall, averaging 20.4 per cent in July 2025, which rose to 21.4 per cent in October 2025. The non-resident segment exhibits exceptional preference, with a 42.1 per cent ATPD attachment rate, highlighting strong focus on income protection, and catastrophic disability risks. Customers increasingly rely on the base policy for death coverage, and treat disability protection as essential “living benefits.”
Varun Agarwal, Business Head, Term Insurance, Policybazaar.com explains: “Term insurance riders offer enhanced protection for events like accidental death, critical illness, disability, or terminal illness, which provides an additional financial cushion beyond the base policy's death benefit. Our data reveals a definitive market movement toward comprehensive term protection in India. The regional patterns show South leading, with rider adoption twice as high as the North. Moreover, the 42.5 per cent surge in Waiver of Premium attachment and the continued dominance of disability riders like ATPD led by a 42.1 per cent uptake among NRI customers underscore that consumers are now prioritising financial security against income loss due to disability and critical illness equally over the base death benefit. This is a clear signal that the risk-aware, affluent segment is reshaping the term insurance landscape.”
Several reasons can explain the higher riders’ adoption in South India. Cities such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru are filled with younger IT professionals, as also those who work in start-ups. Their stress levels are higher, given their hours, and they are more prone to lifestyle diseases. Hence, they are more aware of the criticality of the add-ons, rather than buying death-only policies. Since most of them stay away from families, and migrate from other regions in search of more lucrative jobs, they feel more compelled to take additional care of their health through comprehensive insurance.
Although the country’s pharma sector is spread across regions, there is a higher concentration in the south in the recent past. Apart from large drug-makers, the healthcare sector is more advanced. Several renowned hospitals have cropped up in the region. This enables and enhances higher health-related awareness. In addition, this leads to higher adoption of insurance covers, along with the riders. Higher literacy levels, and wider global visibility aid the process. In Hyderabad and Bengaluru, IT professionals work abroad, and come back with a better understanding of how insurance works.
South India is known for world-class healthcare facilities, and highly-skilled professionals. Chennai is widely recognised as the ‘Healthcare Capital’ of India. While hospitals are equipped with modern and latest technology, they have emerged as the hubs for medical tourism. Quality services at lower costs pull patients even from the developed world, where the costs are phenomenal. According to some reports, there is a greater focus in the south on medical research, and innovation due to advanced solutions, and digital connectivity.
In a recent speech, a senior executive in a renowned hospital chain said, “South India has become a beacon of healthcare innovation, with cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kochi not only offering cutting-edge technology but driving groundbreaking medical research.” She added that the region outpaces the national average in terms of GDP growth, and is a major contributor to the pharma sector. At present, India supplies a fifth of global medicines.
According to the data tabled in Parliament, 29 per cent of operational beds in the country’s healthcare infrastructure is in the five South Indian states. The North Indian ones (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh), which constitute larger states in terms of areas, account for 27 per cent. Of the nearly 14 lakh registered doctors, Tamil Nadu has the second-highest numbers, followed closely by Karnataka. Even a small state like Kerala has more than 73,000 doctors, which is just less than half of Tamil Nadu.