@2012; don't assess insurance on the basis of returns at maturity. Think about this, what return do you get after insuring your car for a year? Zero - thus you actually loose the whole premium!
Life insurance should be viewed in the same way. The monthly/yearly payments are PREMIUMS. They will never be paid back to you. The SUM-INSURED is the amount they will pay your beneficiary in case you die any time during the cover... even five minutes after making the first payment.
Just like car insurance, if you don't die before the expiry of the cover, you loose the whole premium! However, the insurance company decides to be generous to you and pays you the SUM-INSURED. This should not be compared to the premiums, after all, it is NOT an investment.
What you should do instead is decide how much premium you want to pay and then compare how much SUM-INSURED you can get from different insurance companies.
Conversely, decide how much SUM-INSURED you want, then compare how much it will cost (the PREMIUMS) at different insurance companies.
Isn't this the same thing we do when shopping for car insurance? We should treat life cove the same way
Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.