Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is in talks with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for launching some new products, according to Managing Director S. B. Mainak. The life-insurer, which has been in the business for 57 years, now has some 10-12 products.
LIC’s market share increased to 82 per cent last fiscal from 76 per cent in the previous year, he said.
“Products require time to get market acceptance,” he said. Mr. Mainak was talking to reporters after a meeting on the Indian insurance industry — the road ahead, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
About the growth prospects of LIC during the current fiscal, he said that it depended on the country’s economic situation. “If the GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate is 5.5 per cent, we will grow at a higher rate,” he said, adding that the growth in first premium income for any insurance company was largely dependent on the growth of the economy.
Policy revivalTo a question on policies discontinued during the economic downturn, Mr. Mainak said that LIC would make all-out efforts to revive the policies.
“We have a robust mechanism, and we will launch mass publicity exercises to convert discontinued policies to continuous policies,” he said. However, no data on this was readily available.
He said that in a country where the savings rate was as high as 30.4 per cent, there was huge potential for the insurance industry.
An estimated Rs.50,000 crore would be required for covering the 618 districts where insurance products have not yet reached. “Penetration has to be increased,” he said.
