Section 80C: Hoping For More

There isn’t much in the offering for taxpayers when it comes to Section 80C benefits. For long, the limit has remained fixed at Rs 1.5 lakh, though average income has grown manifold The penny has dropped. There seems to be no specific scope for insurance in the grand scheme of things related to tax savings, as legislated by the authorities, apart from what is being already offered. This cold-shouldering is in stark contrast to the expectations that have built up in various pockets of the insurance sector. The latter, now greatly focused on the retailisation in the mass market, had strongly urged the government to broaden the scope of tax sops as fresh incentives for higher sales. What might seem odd in this context is the near-absence of any particular incentive for the average taxpayer, troubled though he is with only a handful of options. Many of these stem from the fabled...