Policy Without Awareness? Canara Bank Mis-Selling Insurance Sparks Debate on Senior Citizen Protection

An old man aged 90 years in Maharashtra’s Nagpur was reportedly sold a life insurance policy by a Canara Bank branch manager at a premium of Rs. 2 lakh per year. The case has raised concerns about possible mis-selling, lack of proper awareness, and whether senior citizens are being adequately protected when banks sell insurance products.

A user named Saketh R made his news public on Platform ‘X’, where he recognised the elderly man as Venkatachalam V Iyer. He disclosed that the old man and his wife’s grandfather had been holding bank accounts with the same branch of Canara Bank for years. The police premiums were linked directly to the old man’s bank account. The police recently got finalised last February, and the branch had already deducted some part of the premium amounting to Rs. 2 lakh from Iyer’s bank account. The old man was not aware of this; he got to know about the conditions when the Canara Bank sent him a reminder regarding the upcoming premium. He immediately got scared and informed his family of the same.

As per the old man, he used to trust the branch manager blindly, and since he did not have financial knowledge or awareness, the manager misused his trust. He did not deeply analyse the terms and conditions of the insurance and agreed to them all, trusting the manager blindly.

When the post of the user went viral on social media, the regional head and the branch manager themselves visited the old man on Sunday and helped them resolve the issue quickly. Despite the issue having been resolved, how the bank manager broke the trust of the elderly man and created pressure on him to buy insurance became a topic of discussion on social media.

This instance also flags that one should not trust anyone blindly; before agreeing to any policy or agreement, one should read and understand the complete terms and conditions.