The contract is valid for payment of the insured amount during:

• The date of maturity, or
• Specified dates at periodic intervals, or
• Unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.

It is due to globalization, deregulation and also terrorist attacks; that the insurance industry is undergoing a massive change and the metamorphosis has been noteworthy in the last few decades.
In the words of a layman, insurance means managing risk. For instance, in life insurance segment, the insurance company tries to manage mortality (death) rates among the wide array of clients.

Through insurance, a person buys security and protection. Insurance can range from life to medical to general

• Life Insurance
  It insures the life of the person buying the Life Insurance Certificate. Once a Life Insurance is sold by a company then the company remains legally entitled to make payment to the beneficiary after the death of the policy holder.
  

• Medical Insurance
  This is also known as mediclaim. Here, the policy holder is entitled to receive the amount spent for his health purposes from the insurance company.
• General Insurance
  This insurance type involves insuring the risks associated with the general life such as automobiles, business related, natural incidents, commercial and residential properties, etc.

Among other things, the contract also provides for the payment of premium periodically to the Corporation by the policyholder. Life insurance is universally acknowledged to be an institution, which eliminates 'risk', substituting certainty for uncertainty and comes to the timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event of death of the breadwinner. By and large, life insurance is civilization’s partial solution to the problems caused by death. Life insurance, in short, is concerned with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every person:

1. That of dying prematurely leaving a dependent family to fend for itself.
2. That of living till old age without visible means of support.