Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) — Schedule of Disabilities
What permanent partial disability is, how a policy's schedule of disabilities turns each listed loss into a percentage of the sum insured, and how several losses and policy caps are handled.
What permanent partial disability is
Permanent partial disability (PPD) is a permanent loss that falls short of total disability. The loss of one eye, one hand or a finger are examples. The person is not totally disabled, but something has been lost for good.
Two words in the name carry the conditions. Permanent means the loss will not recover, and it has to be supported by medical evidence. Partial means it does not meet the policy's definition of permanent total disability.
The schedule of disabilities
The policy's benefit schedule, often called a schedule or table of disabilities, lists each loss and the percentage of the sum insured payable for it. The benefit is that percentage applied to the sum insured, paid as a fixed amount.
The percentages are product features. Every policy states its own, and no single table applies across insurers. As an illustration only, a schedule might give 50% for one eye, 25% for a thumb and 10% for an index finger. A real claim uses the figures in the policy in hand, not these.
Occupation does not change the percentage
A schedule pays the percentage it states for each listed loss, whatever the insured does for a living, unless the policy provides otherwise. The same finger is worth the same percentage to a clerk and to a musician.
This follows from the nature of the cover. It is a fixed benefit agreed in advance, not a measure of what the particular person has lost in earnings.
Several losses, and caps
One accident can cause more than one listed loss. The policy states how the losses combine: as an illustration, a schedule may add the percentages together. It also states any cap, for example a limit of 100% of the sum insured on all disability payments.
Whether a cap applies to each accident or to the whole policy period is itself a term of the policy. Under a cap on the policy period, two accidents in the same period are added together and the total is limited.
Rules at a glance
A listed loss and medical evidence
Illustration: Arjun, 29, a machine operator in Ludhiana, loses his right thumb in an accident. His claim rests on two things: medical evidence that the loss is permanent, and the line in his policy's schedule that gives a percentage for a thumb. The insurer applies that percentage to his sum insured. Had the thumb been injured but expected to heal, there would be no permanent loss, and this head of benefit would not apply.
Reading a schedule of disabilities
- Assumptions of the example: a sum insured of ₹20,00,000. The schedule pays 50% for total loss of sight in one eye, 25% for a thumb, 10% for an index finger and 7% for a little finger. It adds the percentages when one accident causes more than one listed loss, and it caps all disability payments in a policy period at 100% of the sum insured. These terms are illustrative; each policy sets its own.
- Loss of sight in one eye: 50% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹10,00,000.
- Loss of a thumb and an index finger of one hand in a single accident: 25% + 10% = 35%. 35% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹7,00,000.
- Loss of a little finger by a professional pianist: 7% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹1,40,000. The schedule does not vary with occupation, so the effect on her career does not raise the figure.
- Two accidents in the same policy period with listed losses of 60% and 55%: 60% + 55% = 115%, which is above the cap. The total payable is 100% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹20,00,000. The first accident brings 60% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹12,00,000, leaving ₹20,00,000 − ₹12,00,000 = ₹8,00,000 for the second.
Result. Each benefit is the schedule percentage applied to the sum insured, and the total across the policy period stops at the cap of ₹20,00,000.
Key points
- Permanent partial disability is a permanent loss that falls short of total disability, such as the loss of one eye, one hand or a finger.
- The benefit schedule lists each loss with the percentage of the sum insured payable for it.
- The percentages are product features: every policy states its own.
- The schedule percentage is paid whatever the insured's occupation, unless the policy provides otherwise.
- The policy states how several losses combine and what cap applies.
- The loss must be permanent and supported by medical evidence.
Common misunderstandings
- There is no universal table of disability percentages: each policy's schedule states its own figures.
- A higher-earning or more specialised occupation does not raise the percentage: the schedule pays what it states unless the policy itself provides otherwise.
- Percentages do not add up without limit: the policy states how losses combine and caps the total.
- An injury that is expected to heal is not a permanent partial disability: the loss must be permanent and supported by medical evidence.
Questions people ask
Are the percentages for each loss fixed by IRDAI?
No. They are product features, stated in each policy's benefit schedule.
If one accident causes two listed losses, are both paid?
The policy states how they combine. In the example above the schedule adds the percentages, subject to its cap; another policy may provide differently.
Does a cap apply to each accident or to the whole year?
That is stated in the policy. Some caps apply per accident and some to the whole policy period.
What this lesson relies on
- The policy wording and benefit schedule of the product concerned (table of disabilities, combination of losses and caps)
This lesson was reviewed independently against these sources on 8 October 2026. Rules change: check the current regulation, scheme document or policy wording before relying on any figure. This is education, not advice.