Insurance Endorsement: Meaning, Types, Uses and Importance

Key Takeaways
 

• An insurance endorsement is a change in your insurance policy that you want to make. 
   
• You can change the name, address, and coverage. You can also add a nominee, assets, or new information about products through an insurance endorsement.
   
• Your premium for insurance can be changed after endorsement.

Bonus tip - On 5 February, 2026 Indian government expanded the FDI limit from 74% to 100%. Now global insurance companies can set their wholly owned subsidies in India. 

 When you go for insurance, you add all the current information to it. But in future, sometimes you may have to change some important things like address, nominee, or any other changes. You can go for an insurance endorsement at that time. 

An insurance endorsement is a type of document that is updated when policyholders want to change or add any information to an insurance policy. 

Example,

Neha loves diamonds; she brought a necklace worth ₹5,00,000. She applied for insurance. After some time, she replaced it and created a new one worth 8 lakh. Now she wanted to cover this in her insurance policy. She went to the insurer, and they told her about the insurance endorsement. Now she doesn't need to change insurance or buy a new one. Her 8 lakh's jewellery will be covered in this existential insurance. 

What is an Insurance Policy Endorsement?

If you ask me what does endorsement means in insurance my answer will be “When you want to make modifications or additions to your existing insurance policy”. Also, known as Insurance Amendatory Endorsement, changes can be made through an insurance policy endorsement. You can change your address, insurance product details, add coverage, or remove coverage. And these changes became part of the original insurance policy. 

Normally, an insurance policy endorsement is done when a policyholder wants to add extra coverage, change address or nominee, the value of the original product is changed, or a new asset or personal needs to be included. 

Types of Insurance Endorsement

There are mainly two types of insurance endorsements. Financial endorsement and non-financial endorsement. 

Financial Endorsements - In financial endorsement, the premium value can be changed. You can add new products and increase the sum. If you have vehicle insurance, later on, if you want to increase the policy value or add a CNG kit,  you can easily do it.

Non-financial endorsement - In non-financial endorsement, you can change details related to the insurance, like name, address, contact number, nominee, or spelling. 

Scheduled Personal Property Endorsement - this endorsement is used by homeowners, when they already have insurance for their house, but add something new, like jewellery or artwork. Homeowners can insure these added things too. 

Other Addition Endorsements - you can change or add coverage, add specific risk to cover, remove specific coverage, and modify liability limits.

Insurance Endorsement vs Insurance Certificate

The main difference lies in the names of both Insurance Endorsement and Insurance Certificate. An insurance endorsement is a modification to an existential insurance policy, and an insurance certificate is issued to prove that you have insurance. 
 

When someone asks you, do you have insurance? You can show an insurance certificate and prove that you really have insurance. When you want to change something in an insurance policy, insurance endorsement helps you.

How to Apply for Insurance Endorsement

When you want to go for an Insurance Amendatory Endorsement, the first thing is that you have to inform your insurer about this.
 

1. First, inform your insurer about changes, tell them what you want to change or add to the policy. Whether you want financial or non-financial change.

If your endorsement is approved, it is valid for the whole duration of your policy term.