PLI Name Change in Uttarakhand: Postal Life Insurance and RPLI
For holders of Postal Life Insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance policies, and their nominees, where a name on the policy differs from identity papers: the department's own procedure, where a request is submitted, how a correction differs from a change, and what a nominee does at a death claim.
A PLI name change is asked for on the department's own request form, submitted by the insured person at any post office or the insurance processing centre, with original identity papers. The same form corrects a nominee's name. A slip in spelling needs no Gazette. For a change of name, ask the post office which papers its procedure lists.
In the hills a post office is often the only financial office within reach, and many families hold its life insurance. A policy runs for many years, and is read closely only twice: at maturity, and at a death. A PLI name change is best asked for long before either. This page explains PLI name change for policy holders and nominees in Uttarakhand.
We do not change names on these policies. That there is a set procedure, where a request is submitted and whom it covers are from the Directorate of Postal Life Insurance's own memorandum and India Post's pages. We could read only parts of the memorandum. For savings accounts and certificates, read name change in post office savings, NSC and KVP.
What Are the Two Kinds of Policy?
Postal Life Insurance
- Begun on 1 February 1884, for postal employees
- Later opened to other employees and groups
- Premium often deducted from salary
- Serviced through a processing centre at a head post office
Rural Postal Life Insurance
- The counterpart for people living in villages
- Sold and collected through the village post office
- Premium usually paid in cash or from an account, with a receipt book
- Under the same rules and the same processing centres
Both are run by the Department of Posts under one set of rules. For a name, the procedure is the same for both.
What Does the Procedure Say?
From the Directorate of Postal Life Insurance's memorandum setting out a standard operating procedure for name change requests, and India Post's pages. We read the memorandum only in part.
| Point | What the procedure says |
|---|---|
| The form | A request form for correction or change in the policy holder's name, or correction in the nominee's or appointee's name |
| Two stages | During the term of the policy, by the insured person. Or at a death claim, by the nominee, appointee or claimant |
| Where | At any post office, branch, sub or head, or the insurance processing centre, across the country |
| How | By the insured person, with all original documents, for comparison with the copies by the official |
| A messenger | An insured person who is medically unfit or outside India may authorise a person to submit the form and papers |
| An office error | A policy issued with an incorrect name owing to an error at the processing centre is dealt with separately |
An acknowledgment slip is given on submission, with a service request number. The procedure lists different papers for different cases, and its list for a change of name includes publication of the change. The post office has the full list.
Which Three Names Are on a Bond?
| Name | Came from | Who asks for a correction |
|---|---|---|
| The insured person | The proposal form, as entered at the processing centre | The insured person |
| The nominee | What the insured person wrote | The insured person, while living |
| The appointee | What the insured person wrote, where the nominee is a minor | The insured person |
| The account for payment | The bank or post office | The account holder, at the bank |
The second and third were usually not checked against anyone's identity paper. An insured person wrote his wife's or child's name as he knew it. That is where trouble waits.
What Kinds of Request Are There?
A correction
- A slip in spelling, an initial, a missing surname
- Made on the proposal form, or at the processing centre
- Settled on identity papers
A change
- The insured person's name has in fact changed since the policy began
- By marriage, or by choice
- The procedure asks for more, including publication of the change
A difference found at a claim
- The insured person has died
- His name on the policy differs from the death certificate, or the nominee's from her own papers
- Raised by the nominee or claimant, with the claim
The third is the hard one, and the procedure provides for it. It is still far better for the insured person to settle every name while he can sign the form himself.
Which Case Is Yours?
| The situation | Route | Gazette? |
|---|---|---|
| The bond has a spelling slip | The request form, on identity papers | No |
| The policy was issued wrongly though the proposal was right | The same form, as an office error | No |
| The nominee's name is a home name | The insured person corrects it on the same form | No |
| The nominee has died | A fresh nomination | No |
| A woman has taken a married surname | The form, with the marriage certificate. Ask how it is classed | Ask the post office |
| The insured has died, and names differ | The nominee gives the form with the claim | No |
| The bank account's name differs | The branch | No |
| The insured changed a name by choice | The form, with the papers the procedure lists for a change | Publication is listed. Ask in what form |
Most rows end at a post office counter, with one form.
How Do You Ask?
This follows the department's procedure as far as we could read it. The post office has the full text and the form.
Step 1: Take out the policy bond and read every name on it
The insured person's, the nominee's, and the appointee's if the nominee is a child.
Step 2: Put the identity papers of each beside it
Yours, and the nominee's own.
Step 3: Decide if it is a correction or a change
A slip in spelling, or a name that has in fact changed since the policy was taken.
Step 4: Get the request form for name correction or change
From a post office, or the insurance arm's site. The same form covers the policy holder, the nominee and the appointee.
Step 5: Gather the papers the procedure asks for in your case
They differ for a correction and for a change. The post office has the list.
Step 6: Submit at any post office or the processing centre, in person
With the originals, which the official compares with your copies.
Step 7: Take the acknowledgment slip
It carries the policy number, a service request number and the date.
Step 8: Check that the record has changed, and read the endorsement
Then see that the bank account for the maturity payment carries the same name.
Is Yours a Correction, or a Change?
- A correction puts right a name that was written wrongly. The person's name was always the same.
- A change records a name that has become different since the policy was taken.
- The procedure treats the two apart, with different papers for each.
- For a correction, the insured person's identity papers show what the name always was.
- For a change, the procedure's list includes publication of the change of name.
- Say honestly which yours is. A change presented as a correction is likely to be questioned when the papers are compared.
We could not read the procedure's full list for each case. Ask at the counter, and take the list in writing. Read name correction vs name change.
What About the Nominee and the Appointee?
- India Post says a death claim is at times delayed just because no nomination was made.
- It also says a nomination can be made or changed at any time.
- Where a nominee has died before the insured person, a fresh nomination is to be registered.
- Where the nominee is a minor, an appointee is named to receive the money for the child.
- The request form corrects a nominee's or an appointee's name. Use it to bring each to that person's own identity paper.
- Look at the nomination every few years. Children grow up, and a child nominee's appointee is no longer needed.
Read nominee name mismatch in a bank claim and Kumari, Devi and the husband’s surname.
What Happens at a Death Claim?
- A claim is made on the department's form, at any post office or the processing centre.
- The form asks for the insured person's name, the date, cause and place of death, and each claimant's name and share.
- Where there is no nomination, it asks for a succession certificate, letters of administration or probate.
- Where the insured person's name on the policy differs from the death certificate, the procedure lets the claimant give the name request form with the claim.
- The same applies where the nominee's own name differs from the policy.
- The post office's official verifies the claim against the papers, and gives an acknowledgment.
A death certificate with a slip in it is corrected by the Registrar. Do that first where you can. Read name correction in a death certificate and legal heir certificate and succession certificate name mismatch.
What About Maturity, and the Bank Account?
- At maturity the insured person claims on a form, with the policy bond and the premium receipt book or a certificate of deductions.
- A cancelled cheque is asked for where the money is to go to a bank account.
- The account's name is read against the policy.
- A policy in "R S Bisht" and an account in "Ram Singh Bisht" is a question at the worst moment.
- So correct the policy, or the account, in the years before maturity, not in its month.
- Where the bond is lost, an indemnity bond is asked for in its place. The name should be right before that too.
Read name change in bank records and cheque payee name mismatch.
What About Premium Deducted From Salary?
- Many Government and defence employees pay their premium by deduction from pay.
- The pay office deducts against the policy number, and certifies the deductions when a claim is made.
- The employee's name in the service record and on the policy should be one.
- An employee who changes a name in service has the service record changed first, then the policy.
- On transfer or retirement, tell the post office how the premium will now be paid.
- A gap in deductions that nobody noticed can lapse a policy. Check the record once a year.
Read name change for Government employees and pension and family pension records.
Where Does a Gazette Come In?
Where the insured person's name has in fact changed. The department's procedure lists publication of the change among the papers for that case. Ask the post office in what form it wants it before you begin.
Step 1: Confirm that it is a change of name, and not a slip or an error at the processing centre
Those are corrected on identity papers, under the same procedure.
Step 2: Ask the post office which papers the procedure lists for a change
Its list includes publication of the change of name. Ask in what form it is wanted.
Step 3: Fix the exact new name
The spelling that will go on Aadhaar, the bank account and the policy.
Step 4: Make the affidavit and publish the newspaper notice
Sign before a notary. Publish in a daily local leading newspaper, and keep the original newspaper.
Step 5: Type the form and sign the undertaking
Two typed copies of the specimen, signed in your old name with two witnesses, and the undertaking.
Step 6: Prepare the CD, photographs and certificate
The same text on a CD in MS Word, two self-attested photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.
Step 7: Pay the charge on BharatKosh
Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. It is not refunded.
Step 8: Send the file yourself, then give the notice with the request form
Send it to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Update Aadhaar and the bank as well.
Which Gazette Should You Use?
The Department of Posts is central, and compares central identity papers. The Gazette of India is the one to prefer, subject to what the procedure accepts.
Step 1: Remember whose insurance this is
The Department of Posts, a central department.
Step 2: Remember what it compares
Identity papers, which are mostly central too.
Step 3: Prefer the Gazette of India
Ask the post office first what its procedure accepts.
Step 4: Contact the Roorkee press only if a state notice suits another purpose
Take the contact from govtpress.uk.gov.in and ask if a private change of name notice is being accepted.
Step 5: Download the notice
Search egazette.gov.in and save the PDF.
For the difference between the two, read Uttarakhand Gazette vs Gazette of India.
Which Mistakes Do Policy Holders Make?
| Mistake | What to do |
|---|---|
| Never reading the bond after it arrives | Read every name on it |
| Leaving the nominee as a home name | Correct it on the request form |
| No nomination at all | Make one. It can be done at any time |
| Calling a change a correction | Say which it is |
| Sending copies without originals | Take the originals for comparison |
| No acknowledgment slip | Take it, with the service request number |
| Finding the difference in the month of maturity | Settle it years before |
| Leaving it to the family to explain after a death | The insured person settles it himself |
| Paying an agent to "get it changed" | Any post office takes the form |
A typical case we handle: a retired soldier in Pithoragarh held a policy maturing the next year. The bond named his nominee as "Bimla". His wife's Aadhaar read "Vimla Devi". He asked us if she needed a Gazette. She did not. Nobody's name had changed. He filled the department's request form to correct the nominee's name, took it to his village post office with her Aadhaar and their marriage certificate, and was given an acknowledgment slip. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.
When you do not need us
For a slip, an office error, a nominee's name and a claim. The post office settles those on its own form. We are useful only where an insured person has changed a name and the procedure asks for publication of the change.
Which Areas of Uttarakhand Do We Cover?
All 13 districts: Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh. The request form is taken at any post office. Send photos of the bond and the identity papers on WhatsApp and we will tell you which kind of request yours is.
People Also Ask About Names on a Postal Policy
How do I change my name in a PLI policy?
On the department's request form, at any post office.
Can a nominee's name be corrected in PLI?
Yes, on the same form, by the insured person.
Where is a PLI name change request submitted?
At any post office or the processing centre.
Is a gazette needed for a PLI name change?
Not for a slip. For a change, the procedure lists publication.
What if the insured has died and the name differs?
The nominee gives the request form with the claim.
Can someone else submit my PLI name change form?
A messenger, if you are medically unfit or abroad.
When did Rural Postal Life Insurance begin?
Department of Posts training material dates the extension of the insurance cover to rural areas, as Rural Postal Life Insurance, to 1995.
What is the maximum sum assured under PLI?
Guides say the limit, once Rs 4,000, has been raised to Rs 50 lakh, and that PLI grew from a few policies in 1884 to over 46 lakh by 2017. Check the present limit with the post office.
Who can buy Postal Life Insurance now?
Department material lists professionals such as doctors, engineers, management consultants and chartered accountants among those eligible, besides Government and semi-government employees. Ask the post office for the full list.
What does the nominee get on the insured person's death?
Department material says the nominee is paid the full sum assured with accrued bonus. That is why the nominee's name has to match the nominee's own papers.
Is there a PLI policy for children?
Department material describes a children's policy, for at most two children of a policy holder, with a sum assured up to Rs 3 lakh. The child's name should match the birth certificate and school record.
Does a joint policy for a couple need both names right?
Yes. The Yugal Suraksha joint life policy asks for the spouse's details as well. Both names, and the spouse's date of birth, should match each person's own papers.
Find Out Which Kind of Request Yours Is
Send photos of the policy bond and the identity papers of the insured person and the nominee. We will tell you, free, if it is a correction or a change, and what to take to the post office. For a correction there is nothing to pay us for, and we will say so.
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PLI Name Change: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a PLI name change?
What are these two kinds of insurance?
Is there a set procedure for a name change?
Where is the request submitted?
Can the nominee's name be corrected too?
Do I need a Gazette or an affidavit?
I cannot go to the post office. Can someone else submit the form?
The policy was issued with a wrong name though I filled the form correctly. What then?
The insured person has died, and the name on the policy differs from the death certificate. What does the nominee do?
My name as nominee is written as the family calls me. Should it be corrected now?
What if there is no nomination at all?
I married after taking the policy. Is my surname a correction or a change?
Where does the maturity money go?
My premium is deducted from salary. Does my office's record matter?
Is this the same as the post office's savings schemes?
Do you change names on these policies?
People also search for: PLI name correction form, RPLI name change, PLI nominee name correction, postal life insurance name change documents, PLI death claim name mismatch, RPLI policy name wrong, RPLI started 1995, PLI maximum sum assured 50 lakh, who can buy PLI, PLI nominee death benefit, PLI children policy, Yugal Suraksha joint policy name.
Who Wrote and Reviewed This Page?
This page is written by the Documentation Desk Team of UttarakhandNameChange.com, the team that prepares Gazette files for people across Uttarakhand.
It is reviewed by Advocate Vipin Chauhan.
That there is a standard operating procedure for name change requests, its request form covering the policy holder, nominee and appointee, the two stages, submission at any post office or the processing centre with originals, the messenger, the separate handling of an office error and the mention of publication of a change of name, are from the Directorate of Postal Life Insurance's memorandum, which we could read only in part. The date of 1884, the points on nomination and the customer portal are from India Post's page. What a death claim form asks, and the papers for a maturity claim, are from the department's forms and its list of service requests. We did not read the procedure's full lists of papers for each case, and could not confirm how a married surname is classed. The post office is the authority.
Official Sources
- India Post: Postal Life InsuranceThe schemes, nomination and the customer portal.
- Postal Life Insurance: papers for service requestsWhat each kind of request needs.
- Postal Life Insurance: guidelines for customersMaturity and death claims.
- India PostForms, and the nearest post office.
- Department of Publication: Change of Name and Public NoticesThe change of name guideline, for a real change of name.
Names on a Postal Policy: The Short Version
The Department of Posts has a set procedure for names on its life insurance policies. One request form covers the insured person, the nominee and the appointee. The insured person submits it at any post office or the processing centre, with originals, and takes an acknowledgment slip. A correction is settled on identity papers. A change asks for more. A nominee can raise a difference with a death claim, but the insured person should settle every name himself, well before maturity.
A slip needs no Gazette. To find out which kind of request yours is, send photos on WhatsApp 9540005064, and we will reply in working hours.
One Form, at Any Post Office. Settle Every Name While You Can Sign It Yourself.
Send the bond and the identity papers on WhatsApp. We tell you, free, which kind of request yours is.