Q.Mr. Roy takes a life insurance policy on 1 April 2024 for a sum assured of ₹10,00,000. He dies by suicide on 1 October 2024. Separately, assume instead that he had died by suicide on 1 June 2025. In each scenario, what amount (broadly) would the insurer be liable to pay the nominee, and why?

This tests the standard suicide-clause exclusion period found in Indian life insurance policies — the outcome depends entirely on whether death by suicide falls within or after that initial period.

Step 1 — Identify the applicable clause. Life insurance policies in India, under the IRDAI's standard regulatory framework, generally contain a suicide clause excluding or limiting the insurer's liability if the life insured dies by suicide within an initial period after the policy commences (or is revived) — commonly twelve months.

Step 2 — Apply the clause to Scenario 1. The policy commenced on 1 April 2024; the assumed suicide occurs on 1 October 2024 — exactly six months later, well WITHIN the standard twelve-month exclusion period. Under the standard suicide clause, the insurer's liability in this scenario is generally limited to a refund of the premiums actually paid by Mr. Roy up to that point (subject to whatever minimum the specific policy provides) — the full sum assured of ₹10,00,000 would NOT ordinarily be payable.

Step 3 — Apply the clause to Scenario 2. If suicide instead occurred on 1 June 2025 — fourteen months after the 1 April 2024 commencement date — this falls AFTER the standard twelve-month exclusion period has elapsed. In that case, the nominee would ordinarily be entitled to receive the full sum assured of ₹10,00,000, exactly as would be payable on any other cause of death within the policy term. …