Yes, for most salaried earners: a term plan pays on death, while personal accident cover also pays when an accident leaves you disabled, as a lump sum for permanent disability and, if you add it, a weekly amount while you cannot work. At ₹24 lakh a year, cover of five to ten years' income is ₹1.2 crore to ₹2.4 crore. At indicative 2026 rates for an office worker of 30, it costs ₹2,000 to ₹6,000 a year per crore, a fraction of the ₹8,000 to ₹15,000 that a crore of term cover costs a 30-year-old non-smoker. The table below adds ₹15 lakh and ₹40 lakh.

What does a term plan leave out?

A term plan pays if you die during the term. If you survive an accident but can never work again, the base plan pays nothing. Injury is commoner on Indian roads: in 2023, road accidents killed 1,72,890 people and injured 4,62,825, and two-wheeler riders were 44.8% of the deaths (Road Accidents in India 2023, transport ministry).

Personal accident cover is the permanent disability insurance a base term plan lacks, paying for both outcomes. IRDAI's standard policy of 2021, Saral Suraksha Bima, pays 100% on accidental death and 100% for permanent total disability, such as losing both hands or any capacity to work, if either follows within 12 months of the accident. Permanent partial disability pays a set share: 50% for one hand, one foot or the sight of one eye, and 25% for a thumb.

Its optional add-on, temporary total disability, pays 0.2% of the sum insured for each week an injury keeps you from any work, for the whole period if it lasts more than four weeks, up to 100 weeks.

How much cover does Tanmay need on ₹24 lakh?

Tanmay, 30, earns ₹24 lakh a year, about ₹1,51,600 a month in hand (how CTC turns into in-hand pay). He rides a motorcycle to work and has a ₹2 crore term plan. His wife is at home with their two-year-old; the family, him included, spends about ₹12 lakh a year.

Disabled, he would still need ₹12 lakh a year, plus care. Five years' income is ₹24 lakh × 5 = ₹1.2 crore; ten years' is ₹24 lakh × 10 = ₹2.4 crore. Assume the payout earns 8% a year and spending rises 6% a year, the insurance planning guide's 2026 assumptions, with each year's spending drawn at its start, as in is ₹1 crore term insurance enough. Then ₹1.2 crore pays 10 full years of ₹12 lakh and ₹2.4 crore pays 24, carrying Tanmay to 54. The lower end buys time; the upper, most of his working years.

The guide puts personal accident cover at about ₹1,000 to ₹3,000 a year per ₹50 lakh for an office job, the range whose middle its sample budget uses at age 32 (indicative, 2026; varies by insurer). Per crore, that is ₹2,000 to ₹6,000 against ₹8,000 to ₹15,000 for term cover for a non-smoker of 30 (indicative, 2026), so his ₹1.2 crore to ₹2.4 crore costs ₹2,400 to ₹14,400 a year, against ₹16,000 to ₹30,000 for his ₹2 crore term plan. The weekly benefit costs extra.

How much cover at ₹15 lakh and ₹40 lakh?

Salary (CTC) 5 years' income Premium (5 years) 10 years' income Premium (10 years)
₹15 lakh ₹75 lakh ₹1,500 to ₹4,500 ₹1.5 crore ₹3,000 to ₹9,000
₹24 lakh ₹1.2 crore ₹2,400 to ₹7,200 ₹2.4 crore ₹4,800 to ₹14,400
₹40 lakh ₹2 crore ₹4,000 to ₹12,000 ₹4 crore ₹8,000 to ₹24,000

Premiums are yearly, at indicative 2026 rates for an office worker in their thirties. Insurers cap accident cover at a multiple of income that varies, so the cap may set the ten-year figure at any salary.

What does the weekly benefit pay?

The weekly benefit covers, say, a broken leg that a doctor certifies keeps Tanmay from any work for months. On ₹1 crore, the largest standard policy, 0.2% a week is ₹20,000, about ₹86,700 a month, paid quarterly. Against the family's ₹1,00,000 a month of spending, that leaves about ₹13,300 a month, plus care, for his emergency fund, which carries the whole amount until the first payment arrives.

Do bike insurance or term riders already cover this?

As an owner-driver, Tanmay must hold compulsory personal accident cover of ₹15 lakh (IRDAI, 2018) unless his own accident policy pays ₹15 lakh or more. It pays only on death or permanent disability while riding that vehicle, with no weekly benefit.

Term riders close only part of the gap. An accidental total and permanent disability rider pays if an accident leaves him permanently unable to work, but nothing for losing a hand or months off work, and its sum is capped, often at the base cover or a fixed amount. An accidental death benefit rider adds to the payout only if death is accidental, and a waiver-of-premium rider pays no money.

Health insurance pays hospital bills, not income; for illness, critical illness cover fills the gap.

Who can skip personal accident cover?

You can hold less, or none, if your investments would cover household spending for many years. With no dependants the death payout matters little, but the disability payout still replaces your income, so size it to your spending plus care.

Dhi looks at your protection alongside cash flow, net worth and goals, and nudges when cover falls behind your income. Dhi earns no commissions and never mis-sells a policy.

Frequently asked questions

No. It pays only for injury from an accident, which policies define as a sudden, unforeseen and involuntary event caused by external, violent and visible means. Disability from a stroke, a heart condition or cancer falls outside it; critical illness cover, which pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a listed illness, is the cover built for that side.
It helps while you hold the job, but the employer sets the amount and the cover usually ends the day you leave, which is also when a gap in income hurts most. Count it as extra, not as the base, and size your own policy as if it did not exist. Since 22 September 2025, individual policies carry no GST, while group policies still carry 18%.
The base cover does not: it pays fixed sums for death and disability, whatever the treatment costs. In IRDAI's standard policy, hospital expenses after an accident are an optional add-on, capped at 10% of the base sum insured.

This is general information for salaried individuals in India, not personalised financial advice.