Is ₹1 crore term insurance enough? Work out your cover

"Take a ₹1 crore term plan" has become the standard advice for young Indian earners. It's a round number, the premium is affordable, and it sounds like plenty.

Whether it's enough depends on three things you can write down in five minutes: what your family spends, what you owe, and what you'd want paid for. Here's that sum, worked out with our term insurance calculator.

What the payout has to cover

A term plan's payout replaces your income. So size it from what the income pays for:

1. Living expenses for the years your family would need support. Here ₹6 L a year for 25 years, rising 6% a year with prices, while the payout earns 7% invested. That comes to ₹1.34 Cr today.
2. Loans that would otherwise fall on the family: a ₹30 L home loan.
3. Goals you'd want funded anyway: a child's education, say ₹25 L.

Take away what already exists (your cover and savings) and what's left is the gap.

How long would ₹1 crore last?

A gap in rupees is abstract. A gap in years isn't. Pay off the loan, set aside the goals, and live on what's left:

Closing the gap here means about ₹75 L more cover (term plans are sold in ₹25 lakh steps).

The support period changes everything

The biggest lever is how many years your family would need support: usually until your youngest child is independent, or until your spouse retires.

What about "10 times income"?

It's a quick check, not an answer. On a ₹15 L income it gives ₹1.5 Cr, well short of the ₹1.89 Cr worked out here, because it ignores the loan, the goals and inflation. A family with no loan and low expenses may need less than 10×; one with a big home loan and young children often needs 15–20×.

Buying order

If you don't have health cover of your own yet, that usually comes first: a hospital bill is far more likely than a death claim. The term or health first tool puts both in order for your family.

What this doesn't mean

• Inflation is an assumption. Retail inflation was 4.38% in June 2026^[1]; the calculator uses 6% to be safe over 25 years.
• Check the insurer, not just the price. IRDAI publishes insurers' claim data in its annual reports.^[2]
• Review it at big moments. A new loan, a child or a big raise all change the number.

Expense-replacement method: expenses paid at the start of each year, rising with inflation, from a payout invested at 7%. Loans and goals paid first. For illustration only, not insurance advice.