BANGALORE: Wonder what will you get for “five paise”? It can get you an insurance cover. Shocked! Yes indeed it’s true. While presenting Budget 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has unearthed a low-premium insurance scheme named “Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana” which aims to increase the insurance penetration in India by providing life cover at a very low annual premium.

The scheme is a one year coverage yojana. Thus it is renewable from year to year, Accident Insurance Scheme offering accidental death and disability cover for death or disability on account of an accident. The scheme would be administered through Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) and other General Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and tie up with Banks for this purpose.

All savings bank account holders in the age “18 to 70” years in participating banks will be eligible to join. Participating banks in the sense all those banks which are offering this service governing the norms laid down by the government of India. In case of multiple saving bank accounts held by an individual in one or different banks, the person would be eligible to join the scheme through one savings bank account only. In case of Joint Account holders, both the Account holders are eligible to join on payment of premium for each account holders.

The paperwork is minimal. In fact if you already have a bank account all you have to do is subscribe to the scheme before May 31. The premium will get auto-deducted from your savings account.

The restriction, however, is that you can buy this cover only once, even if you have multiple bank accounts. Even though the price point is eye-popping, the cover size is too small. So, while you should sign up to augment your existing insurance at a low price, this product alone is not sufficient protection.