Nearly 76 percent Indians live without an insurance cover, as they tend to believe that nothing will happen to them and that their savings will take care of things in any adverse situation, says a survey.

What was even more alarming was that only 14 percent of those insured were women, who actually needed greater financial security than men, said the study carried out by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India’s premier economic reseach institution, in collaboration with Max New York Life Insurance Company.

Disclosing the survey report in Lucknow on July 6, Max New York Life Senior Vice President Kenneth Sanoo said, “There is a lack of understanding about the real benefits of life insurance towards both financial protection and long-term wealth creation.” Referring to Uttar Pradesh, he said, “About 42 percent of households in the state simply kept their savings at home while 54 percent deposited their savings in banks.”

The key findings were obtained from a sample of over 63,000 Indian households, including over 8,800 in Uttar Pradesh and 280 in capital Lucknow. It was felt that most of the household savings in the state were ‘misdirected’ and ‘unwise’. According to the survey, “though 74 percent of the households in the state were aware of insurance facilities, not more than 15 percent were actually availing these.”