Refund and free-look

You are allowed to change your mind. If a policy has been issued to you and it is not what you understood you were buying, there is a defined window in which you can hand it back and have it cancelled. This page explains what that window is, how to use it, and what actually comes back to you — described as a mechanism, because the amount is the insurer's calculation and not ours to state.

This page is information about how a process works. It is not advice, it does not tell you whether to keep or return a policy, and it does not change the terms of your contract. Where this page and your policy document differ, your policy document governs.

What is the free-look period?

The free-look period is a window that opens when you receive your policy document. During it you can return the policy and have it cancelled, and the insurer refunds what you paid after making certain deductions it is permitted to make. It is a right the regulations give you, not a request the insurer decides.

It exists because a policy document is the first time you see the actual contract — the full terms, the exclusions, the conditions and the wording — rather than a description of it. The window is there so that reading it, and disagreeing with what you read, is still worth something.

How long is the free-look period?

Thirty days from the date you receive the policy document, for a life insurance policy — which is the only kind this practice places, and the only kind this page is about. That period is set by the IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders' Interests, Operations and Allied Matters of Insurers) Regulations, 2024, which also treat a policy delivered electronically as received. The window runs from receipt of the document, not from the date you paid or the date the policy was issued. It is not a period that runs the same way for every class of insurance, so do not carry it across to a policy of another kind.

Check this against your own policy document. The period stated in your document is the one that governs your contract, and it is the one to rely on. A policy issued under the earlier regime may state a shorter period, and regulations are amended from time to time. If your document says something different from this page, follow your document and ask the insurer in writing to confirm the position. The regulations themselves are published by the regulator, under its rules and regulations section.

IRDAI — the regulator, and where the regulations are published ↗ (opens an external site in a new tab)

Because the clock starts on receipt, it is worth being able to show when the document reached you. Keep the courier slip, or the email it arrived with, and the date on it.

How do you exercise the free-look?

You write to the insurer and tell it you are returning the policy, saying why, and you return the policy document. The request goes to the insurer because the insurer issued the contract and is the party to it. We can help you prepare and send that request, and we will — but the request is yours, and it is the insurer that acts on it.

1. Read your policy document first, for the free-look period it states and the address or channel it tells you to use.
2. Put it in writing to the insurer. Name the policy number, say plainly that you are returning the policy within the free-look period, and give the date you received the document.
3. State your reason. The insurer asks you to say what you object to. It does not have to be elaborate or clever — that the cover is not what you understood, or that the terms are not acceptable to you, is a reason.
4. Return the policy document as your insurer directs. If it was issued to you electronically, say so.
5. Give the bank details the insurer asks for, so the refund has somewhere to go. Give them to the insurer through its own channel, and never to anyone who telephones you asking for them.
6. Keep proof of sending, and keep the date. Ask for a written acknowledgement, and keep a copy of everything you sent.

Sending your request before the window closes is what matters. Do not let a conversation with anybody — including us — run the clock down.

What do you get back?

The premium you paid, less certain deductions the insurer is permitted to make. Those deductions exist because the insurer genuinely carried the risk for the days the policy was live, and genuinely paid for things while putting it in place. The exact deduction is the insurer's calculation, made from its own records and set out in your policy document.

We do not perform this calculation, we cannot confirm its result before the insurer produces it, and you should be wary of anybody who offers to tell you what your refund will be. If you want the arithmetic explained after you receive it, ask the insurer in writing for the breakup — you are entitled to know how a number sent to you was arrived at.

The regulations also set the period within which the insurer must pay a free-look refund once it has your request. That period is deliberately not printed here. It is amended from time to time, and a stale deadline could stop you chasing money you are still owed. That is the same reason no timeframe appears on the grievance redressal page. Take the period from your policy document or from the regulator, and ask us if you want help finding it.

Why is a unit-linked policy different on a free-look return?

Because units are involved, and unit prices move. In a unit-linked policy your premium, after the parts that are never invested, buys units in a fund. Those units have a value that changes daily with the market, so a free-look return is settled from what the units are worth when the insurer cancels them — not from what you paid for them.

The mechanism runs roughly like this:

• The insurer cancels the units allocated to your policy and works from their value on the day it processes your free-look request.
• Amounts that were never invested in the first place, and charges already taken by cancelling units, are added back to that value.
• The same deductions described above are then applied: the risk premium for the period you were covered, any medical examination expenses, and stamp duty.

The consequence worth understanding is this: because the unit value on the day of cancellation does the work, what comes back to you on a unit-linked free-look return is not fixed to what you paid in. It can be more and it can be less, and neither we nor the insurer can tell you in advance which it will be. Your policy document sets out exactly how the calculation is performed for your policy.

Is this the same as surrendering a policy?

No, and the difference matters. Free-look is unwinding a policy at the very start, in a short window, on terms the regulations set. Surrender is ending a policy later, after that window has closed, and it is governed by the surrender terms in your own contract. They are different rights with different consequences.

This page does not set out how surrender works, because surrender terms are specific to the contract you hold and stating them generally would be more likely to mislead you than to help. Read them in your policy document, and ask the insurer in writing if they are not clear.

What if the application is declined or withdrawn before a policy is issued?

Then there is no free-look, because there is no policy. Free-look is the right to return a contract, and until a policy is issued no contract exists. What you paid with your proposal was not premium under a policy — it was money held against a proposal that was never accepted. The Terms of Use make the same point from the other end: what does, and does not, put you on risk.

Two situations, and they work the same way:

The insurer declines the proposal, or you do not accept its terms

An underwriter can decline a proposal, or accept it on terms different from the ones applied for. If it is declined, or you decide not to proceed on the terms offered, no policy comes into existence and the money paid with the proposal is returned to you.

You withdraw the application before a policy is issued

You can stop at any point before issue. Tell the insurer in writing that you are withdrawing the proposal, and tell us as well so that nothing is submitted on your behalf after you have said stop.

The insurer may be entitled to keep back costs it has already incurred and is permitted to recover — a medical test it has already paid for is the usual example. What applies to you will be set out in the insurer's own communication and in the terms on which the money was taken. Ask for that in writing if it is not explained to you.

Do you pay this agency a fee, and is there anything for us to refund?

No, and no. You do not pay us a fee for what we do. The insurer pays us commission, within the limits the regulator sets, and IRDAI disclosures explains how that works. You pay the insurer, not us, so there is nothing sitting with us that could be given back to you.

This is worth being blunt about, because it tells you where the money relationship actually sits. Your contract is with the insurer. Your payments go to the insurer. Your refund comes from the insurer. We are the distributor: we can prepare the request, send it, chase it and explain what we are told — we cannot pay it, hold it back, or decide it.

If anybody asks you to pay a fee, a charge or a commission to release a free-look refund, that is not how this works. Do not pay it, and tell us and the insurer.

What we will and will not do

We will:

• tell you the free-look period stated in your own document, and where the clock started
• help you draft the request, and send it to the insurer with a copy to you
• keep a record of what was sent and when, and give you that record if you ask
• follow it up, and tell you plainly what we are told — including when the answer is one you did not want

We will not:

• talk you out of a free-look return, delay one, or sit on a request you have given us
• tell you what your refund will be, because the calculation is the insurer's and not ours
• charge you anything for preparing, sending or following up a free-look request
• require you to come through us — you can write to the insurer directly, and you never need our involvement or our permission

What if the refund does not arrive, or you disagree with it?

Then it becomes a complaint, and there is a defined route for those. It has four steps: us, then the insurer as the party to your contract, then IRDAI through its Bima Bharosa portal, then the Insurance Ombudsman. Nobody here can stop you moving to the next step, and none of it costs you a fee.

How to complain, and who decides →

Or start with us, in writing:
Dr. Sonali Walia, trading as Prakash Finserv
[email protected]
+91 87968 39997

Common questions

Can I cancel after the free-look period has ended?

Not by free-look — that right is spent once the window closes. Ending a policy after that is a surrender, and it is governed by your policy document rather than by the free-look rules. What you receive, and whether you receive anything at all, depends on the kind of policy and how long it has run. Read the surrender terms in your document before you act.

Does the clock start when I bought the policy or when I received the document?

When you receive the policy document. Not the date you paid, not the date the proposal was signed, and not the date the policy was issued. That is why keeping proof of delivery matters — a courier slip or the email the document arrived with is what fixes the date if it is ever questioned.

My policy came by email. Does that count as receiving it?

Under the 2024 regulations a policy delivered electronically counts as received, so the window opens when it reaches you that way. Your own policy document states how receipt is determined for your contract, so read that too — and if the two appear to differ, ask the insurer in writing to confirm the date it is working to.

Do I have to give a reason for returning the policy?

Yes. The insurer asks you to state your objection. But it is a statement, not an application to be approved: the insurer does not get to refuse a valid free-look return because it disagrees with your reason. Say plainly what you object to — that the terms are not what you understood is enough of a reason.

Will I get back exactly what I paid?

Usually not, because the permitted deductions come off: the risk premium for the days you were covered, any medical examination expenses, and stamp duty. For a unit-linked policy the unit value on the day of cancellation does the work as well, so the outcome can sit either side of what you paid in. The insurer calculates it and shows it to you.

Can you return the policy on my behalf?

We can prepare the request and send it, and we will keep you copied on what was sent and when. What we cannot do is make the decision for you or stand between you and the insurer: the request is yours, the insurer acts on it, and you can send it directly yourself at any time without telling us.

Why there are no amounts on this page

The insurer works out every element of a free-look refund from its own records: the days it carried the risk, the tests it paid for, the duty it bore, and, for a unit-linked policy, a unit price on a day that has not happened yet. We distribute insurance; we do not underwrite it and we do not calculate refunds. A number published here would be a promise we are in no position to keep. So this page states what goes into the calculation and leaves the result to the party that performs it.