Date of commencement

Date of commencement of a life insurance policy is generally given along with the policy number in the schedule of the policy. The relevance of this date is that all transactions on the policy are reckoned with reference to this date. For example, due dates of premium, whether it is in annual mode, half yearly mode, quarterly mode or monthly mode are based on date of commencement. Date of maturity of the policy, date of last premium due, due dates of installment claims or survival benefit claims etc are also based on date of commencement of the policy. All references to policy anniversary are linked to this date. Period during which the policy has run is determined with reference to date of commencement. Do not confuse date of commencement with date of risk or date of the policy. Life insurance policies can be backdated, generally within the same financial year. [In exceptional cases such as Children’s Differed Assurance policies backdating can go to the previous year also]. To cite an example let us assume that a proposer submitted a proposal on 27^th March of 2013 with a request to backdate the policy to 15^th April 2012. The proposal was underwritten and accepted on 28^th March. And the policy was issued on 30^th March 2013. In this case the date of commencement is 15^th April 2012, date of risk is 28^th March 2013 and date of policy is 30^th March 2013. Risk cover starts on 28^th March 2013.

Key words:

Schedule of policy
Date of commencement
Date of risk
Date of the policy