Most mid-to-large Indian employers provide group term life insurance as part of the standard benefits package. It's a nice benefit, costs the employee nothing, and gives a sense of being covered. It's also almost universally insufficient as a standalone protection strategy. Here's a direct comparison of the two.
Sum assured: Group term cover is typically 3–5x annual CTC. For someone earning ₹15 lakh, that's ₹45–75 lakh. An individual term plan should ideally be 12–15x salary for full income replacement — so even with group cover, the gap is enormous.
Portability: Group cover ends the moment you resign, retire, or are made redundant. Individual term cover goes with you for the full policy tenure regardless of employment status.
Customisation: Group term is standardised — same cover for all employees in a band, same exclusions, limited or no rider options. Individual term plans can be customised with critical illness riders, disability waivers, increasing cover options, and specific payout structures.
Medical underwriting: Many group schemes enroll employees without individual medical underwriting. This is convenient — but it also means the policy terms may include blanket exclusions that a healthy individual would not face under individual underwriting.
The right approach: Treat employer group cover as a bonus top-up. Buy an individual term plan sized to your actual need, completely independent of your employer. The employer benefit reduces your gap — it doesn't eliminate the need for your own cover.