Indian insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation has decided to stop selling as many as 14 policies, including Jeevan Mitra and Anmol Jeevan.
Of these 14 products, LIC has already withdrawn seven policies, including Convertible Term Assurance and Children Deferred Endowment Assurance, with effect from November 16.
As many as five policies including Jeevan Mitra, Jeevan Paramukh Plan, LIC’s Bima Account I and II will go off LIC’s shelves from November 23.
Besides, two policies New Jeevan Nidhi and Anmol Jeevan I will be discontinued from November 30.
Many of these policies are being discontinued as part of regulatory compliance, a senior official of LIC said.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had extended the deadline for implementation of new individual product regulations for the life insurance industry by three months to December 31.
The new guidelines are aimed at making insurance policies more customer—friendly.
“All the existing group policies and all the existing individual products not in conformity with the provisions of this regulation shall be withdrawn from August 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014, respectively,” IRDA had said in a circular.
With regard to group policies, the life insurers have been asked not to enroll these policies after the immediate policy anniversary falling due after July 2013.
However, it had said, all group policies at the time of renewal of such policy shall be given an option to switch over to the modified version of the group product, if any, once introduced.
LIC has outperformed its peers in the private sector by recording a 7 per cent growth in premium collection during the first half of the current fiscal.
The company witnessed a 7.26 per cent growth in premium income to Rs 37,906 crore during the six—month period ending September.
As per the company’s website, LIC has so far withdrawn 19 other policies, including Jeevan Astha, Market Plus I and Jeevan Nischay and Jeevan Varsha.
