A Critical Study of Normality of Unit Linked Insurance Funds Managed by Insurance Companies in India.

Purpose: The present study attempts to assess the assumption of Normality which is said to be present in any stock market related data by default. Methodology: The present paper covers top five private Insurance companies of India, namely, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, Future Generali Life Insurance, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, PNB Met Life Insurance & SBI Life Insurance. Of the stated companies, 35 funds were selected, keeping in mind the portfolio composition of selected funds that they consist of more than 80 percent of equity. The research period is being taken as 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2018. The data were collected from the Websites and the disclosed statistics of NAV of the companies. Findings: An ironical finding of the paper is that the normality is mere an assumption, it's a myth. Our study successfully concludes that in case of Unit Linked Insurance funds with more than 80 percent equity portfolio composition do not have a normal distribution. Limitations/Future Research: This study is restricted only to the ULIPs and no other insurance plans nor any kind of mutual fund is considered for the study, moreover, it takes only those funds that have an equity composition of more than 80 percent. The study paves a way to future researches by giving this area a foundation research platform in the field of normality of data. Contribution/Value Addition: The study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the subject. Its findings are expected to be useful to marketing scholars, practitioners, researchers and policy holders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]