LIC vs Royal Sundaram

LIC and Royal Sundaram are two of the insurers we track in India. LIC is headquartered in Mumbai and has been operating for 70 years (established 1956); Royal Sundaram is headquartered in Chennai and has been operating for 25 years (established 2001). That is roughly 45 years of difference in market experience — LIC predates Royal Sundaram by a generation, which usually translates into more granular underwriting data and a larger book of legacy claims to reference. Older does not automatically mean better, but it does mean more institutional memory of what claims look like in this market.

On the most consequential metric — does the insurer actually pay claims when filed — LIC reports a claim settlement ratio of 98.35% (FY2023-24), versus 92.5% for Royal Sundaram (FY2023-24). A 5.849999999999994-point gap is large enough to matter, particularly on term life and other products where the policy's only real economic value is the payout at claim time.

LIC operates across 1 line (term-life), with 2 products in our database. Royal Sundaram operates across 3 lines (health, motor, travel), with 0 products. The two insurers do not actually overlap on any category in our data, which makes head-to-head comparison difficult — you are choosing between different products for different needs, not between two competing plans in the same slot.

Royal Sundaram lists a cashless network of 8,200 hospitals; LIC's network size is not currently disclosed in our data.

How to actually choose between LIC and Royal Sundaram in India: the insurer choice is one input, but the specific plan you pick within that insurer matters more. Two flagships from different insurers are usually closer to each other than a flagship and a budget plan from the same insurer. Use the insurer-level comparison above to set your priors (which company you trust on claim record, network, and tenure), then click into the specific plans listed on each insurer's profile to compare features, exclusions, and waiting periods at the product level. When all else is comparable, weight the insurer with the stronger published claim record — the policy is only worth what the insurer actually pays.