India’s insurance regulator has fined Canara HSBC Life ₹1 crore after selling a deferred annuity policy to an 88-year-old, breaching age rules and exposing shortcomings in the sales process.
India’s insurance regulator has fined Canara HSBC Life Insurance ₹1 crore after finding that a deferred annuity policy was sold to an 88-year-old customer in breach of product rules, according to reporting by The Economic Times and the insurer’s exchange filing.
The case centred on a policy with an annual premium of ₹2 lakh for four years that was sold through Canara Bank, which acted as the company’s corporate agent. The customer’s daughter was shown as the annuitant, while the regulator said the product’s entry-age band ran from 30 to 80 years and therefore did not cover the proposer, who was 88.
IRDAI also identified shortcomings in the verification calls, proposal form, disclosure of policy features and the way the policy was sold. The insurer later refunded ₹4.09 lakh to the customer, The Economic Times reported.
Additional reports said the penalty followed a show-cause notice issued in March 2026 after a social media post raised concerns about the sale. Canara HSBC Life responded to the notice and took part in a personal hearing before the regulator issued its order on 10 September 2026, according to those reports. The company has also been directed to file an action-taken report.
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