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The story of insurance is probably as old as the story of mankind. The same instinct that
prompts modern businessmen today to secure themselves against loss and disaster existed in
primitive men also. They too sought to avert the evil consequences of fire and flood and loss
of life and were willing to make some sort of sacrifice in order to achieve security. Though
the concept of insurance is largely a development of the recent past, particularly after the
industrial era ± past few centuries ± yet its beginnings date back almost 6000 years.

Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England in the year 1818. Oriental Life
Insurance Company started by Europeans in Calcutta was the first life insurance company on
Indian Soil. All the insurance companies established during that period were brought up with
the purpose of looking after the needs of European community and Indian natives were not
being insured by these companies. However, later with the efforts of eminent people like
Babu Muttylal Seal, the foreign life insurance companies started insuring Indian lives. But
Indian lives were being treated as sub-standard lives and heavy extra premiums were being
charged on them. Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society heralded the birth of first Indian
life insurance company in the year 1870, and covered Indian lives at normal rates. Starting as
Indian enterprise with highly patriotic motives, insurance companies came into existence to
carry the message of insurance and social security through insurance to various sectors of
society. Bharat Insurance Company (1896) was also one of such companies inspired by
nationalism. The Swadeshi movement of 1905-1907 gave rise to more insurance companies.
The United India in Madras, National Indian and National Insurance in Calcutta and the Co-
operative Assurance at Lahore were established in 1906. In 1907, Hindustan Co-operative
Insurance Company took its birth in one of the rooms of the Jorasanko, house of the great
poet Rabindranath Tagore, in Calcutta. The Indian Mercantile, General Assurance and
Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) were some of the companies established during the same
period. Prior to 1912 India had no legislation to regulate insurance business. In the year 1912,
the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the Provident Fund Act were passed. The Life
Insurance Companies Act, 1912 made it necessary that the premium rate tables and periodical
valuations of companies should be certified by an actuary. But the Act discriminated between
foreign and Indian companies on many accounts, putting the Indian companies at a
disadvantage.

The first two decades of the twentieth century saw lot of growth in insurance business. From
44 companies with total business-in-force as Rs.22.44 crore, it rose to 176 companies with
total business-in-force as Rs.298 crore in 1938. During the mushrooming of insurance
companies many financially unsound concerns were also floated which failed miserably. The
Insurance Act 1938 was the first legislation governing not only life insurance but also non-

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life insurance to provide strict state control over insurance business. The demand for
nationalization of life insurance industry was made repeatedly in the past but it gathered
momentum in 1944 when a bill to amend the Life Insurance Act 1938 was introduced in the
Legislative Assembly. However, it was much later on the 19th of January, 1956, that life
insurance in India was nationalized. About 154 Indian insurance companies, 16 non-Indian
companies and 75 provident were operating in India at the time of nationalization.
Nationalization was accomplished in two stages; initially the management of the companies
was taken over by means of an Ordinance, and later, the ownership too by means of a
comprehensive bill. The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance Corporation Act on the
19th of June 1956, and the Life Insurance Corporation of India was created on 1st September,
1956, with the objective of spreading life insurance much more widely and in particular to the
rural areas with a view to reach all insurable persons in the country, providing them adequate
financial cover at a reasonable cost.

LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices, apart from its corporate
office in the year 1956. Since life insurance contracts are long term contracts and during the
currency of the policy it requires a variety of services need was felt in the later years to
expand the operations and place a branch office at each district headquarter. re-organization
of LIC took place and large numbers of new branch offices were opened. As a result of re-
organisation servicing functions were transferred to the branches, and branches were made
accounting units. It worked wonders with the performance of the corporation. It may be seen
that from about 200.00 crores of New Business in 1957 the corporation crossed 1000.00
crores only in the year 1969-70, and it took another 10 years for LIC to cross 2000.00 crore
mark of new business. But with re-organisation happening in the early eighties, by 1985-86
LIC had already crossed 7000.00 crore Sum Assured on new policies.

Today LIC functions with 2048 fully computerized branch offices, 100 divisional offices, 7
zonal offices and the Corporate office. LIC¶s Wide Area Network covers 100 divisional
offices and connects all the branches through a Metro Area Network. LIC has tied up with
some Banks and Service providers to offer on-line premium collection facility in selected
cities. LIC¶s ECS and ATM premium payment facility is an addition to customer
convenience. Apart from on-line Kiosks and IVRS, Info Centres have been commissioned at
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and many
other cities. With a vision of providing easy access to its policyholders, LIC has launched its
SATELLITE SAMPARK offices. The satellite offices are smaller, leaner and closer to the
customer. The digitalized records of the satellite offices will facilitate anywhere servicing and
many other conveniences in the future.

LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer even in the liberalized scenario of Indian
insurance and is moving fast on a new growth trajectory surpassing its own past records. LIC
has issued over one crore policies during the current year. It has crossed the milestone of
issuing 1,01,32,955 new policies by 15th Oct, 2005, posting a healthy growth rate of 16.67%
over the corresponding period of the previous year.

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From then to now, LIC has crossed many milestones and has set unprecedented performance
records in various aspects of life insurance business. The same motives which inspired our
forefathers to bring insurance into existence in this country inspire us at LIC to take this
message of protection to light the lamps of security in as many homes as possible and to help
the people in providing security to their families.

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Every day we wake up to the fact that more than 220 million lives are part of our family
called LIC.

Humbled by the magnitude of the responsibility LIC carry and realise that the lives that are
associated with it are very valuable indeed.

Although this journey started five decades ago, we are still conscious of the fact that, while
insurance may be a business for LIC, being part of millions of lives every day for the past 52
years has been a process called TRUST

53 Years Of Trust«

«Thy Name Is LIC



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Explore and enhance the quality of life of people through financial security by providing
products and services of aspired attributes with competitive returns, and by rendering
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A trans-nationally competitive financial conglomerate of significance to societies and Pride
of India.

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‡ Spread Life Insurance widely and in particular to the rural areas and to the socially and
economically backward classes with a view to reaching all insurable persons in the
country and providing them adequate financial cover against death at a reasonable cost.

‡ Maximize mobilization of people's savings by making insurance-linked savings adequately

attractive.

‡ Bear in mind, in the investment of funds, the primary obligation to its policyholders,
whose money it holds in trust, without losing sight of the interest of the community as a
whole; the funds to be deployed to the best advantage of the investors as well as the
community as a whole, keeping in view national priorities and obligations of attractive
return.

‡ Conduct business with utmost economy and with the full realization that the moneys
belong to the policyholders.

‡ Act as trustees of the insured public in their individual and collective capacities.

‡ Meet the various life insurance needs of the community that would arise in the changing
social and economic environment.

‡ Involve all people working in the Corporation to the best of their capability in furthering
the interests of the insured public by providing efficient service with courtesy.

‡ Promote amongst all agents and employees of the Corporation a sense of participation,
pride and job satisfaction through discharge of their duties with dedication towards
achievement of Corporate Objective.

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Members On The Board Of The Corporation

Shri. T.S. Vijayan (Chairman)

Shri. D.K. Mehrotra (Managing Director - LIC)

Shri. Thomas Mathew T. (Managing Director - LIC)

Shri. A.K. Dasgupta (Managing Director - LIC)

Shri. Ashok Chawla (Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India)

Shri. R. Gopalan (Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of

India.)

Shri. Yogesh Lohiya (Chairman cum Managing Director, GIC of India)

Shri D.L. Rawal (Chairman & Managing Director , Dena Bank)

Dr. Sooranad Rajashekhran

Shri. Monis R. Kidwai

Lt. General Arvind Mahajan ( Retd.)

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Life insurance in India made its debut well over 100 years ago.

In our country, which is one of the most populated in the world, the prominence of insurance
is not as widely understood, as it ought to be. What follows is an attempt to acquaint readers
with some of the concepts of life insurance, with special reference to LIC.

It should, however, be clearly understood that the following content is by no means an

exhaustive description of the terms and conditions of an LIC policy or its benefits or
privileges.

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Life insurance is a contract that pledges payment of an amount to the person assured (or his
nominee) on the happening of the event insured against.

The contract is valid for payment of the insured amount during:

‡ The date of maturity, or

‡ Specified dates at periodic intervals, or

‡ Unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.

Among other things, the contract also provides for the payment of premium periodically to
the Corporation by the policyholder. Life insurance is universally acknowledged to be an
institution, which eliminates 'risk', substituting certainty for uncertainty and comes to the
timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event of death of the breadwinner.

By and large, life insurance is civilisation's partial solution to the problems caused by death.
Life insurance, in short, is concerned with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every
person:

1. That of dying prematurely leaving a dependent family to fend for itself.

2. That of living till old age without visible means of support.

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A contract of insurance is a contract of utmost good faith technically known as uberrima

fides. The doctrine of disclosing all material facts is embodied in this important principle,
which applies to all forms of insurance.

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At the time of taking a policy, policyholder should ensure that all questions in the proposal
form are correctly answered. Any misrepresentation, non-disclosure or fraud in any document
leading to the acceptance of the risk would render the insurance contract null and void.

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Savings through life insurance guarantee full protection against risk of death of the saver.
Also, in case of demise, life insurance assures payment of the entire amount assured (with
bonuses wherever applicable) whereas in other savings schemes, only the amount saved (with
interest) is payable.

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Life insurance encourages 'thrift'. It allows long-term savings since payments can be made
effortlessly because of the 'easy instalment' facility built into the scheme. (Premium payment
for insurance is either monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly).

For example: The Salary Saving Scheme popularly known as SSS, provides a convenient
method of paying premium each month by deduction from one's salary.

In this case the employer directly pays the deducted premium to LIC. The Salary Saving
Scheme is ideal for any institution or establishment subject to specified terms and conditions.

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In case of insurance, it is easy to acquire loans on the sole security of any policy that has
acquired loan value. Besides, a life insurance policy is also generally accepted as security,
even for a commercial loan.

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Life Insurance is the best way to enjoy tax deductions on income tax and wealth tax. This is
available for amounts paid by way of premium for life insurance subject to income tax rates
in force.

Assessees can also avail of provisions in the law for tax relief. In such cases the assured in
effect pays a lower premium for insurance than otherwise.

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A policy that has a suitable insurance plan or a combination of different plans can be
effectively used to meet certain monetary needs that may arise from time-to-time.

Children's education, start-in-life or marriage provision or even periodical needs for cash over
a stretch of time can be less stressful with the help of these policies.

Alternatively, policy money can be made available at the time of one's retirement from
service and used for any specific purpose, such as, purchase of a house or for other
investments. Also, loans are granted to policyholders for house building or for purchase of
flats (subject to certain conditions).

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Any person who has attained majority and is eligible to enter into a valid contract can insure
himself/herself and those in whom he/she has insurable interest.

Policies can also be taken, subject to certain conditions, on the life of one's spouse or
children. While underwriting proposals, certain factors such as the policyholder¶s state of
health, the proponent's income and other relevant factors are considered by the Corporation.

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Prior to nationalisation (1956), many private insurance companies would offer insurance to
female lives with some extra premium or on restrictive conditions. However, after
nationalisation of life insurance, the terms under which life insurance is granted to female
lives have been reviewed from time-to-time.

At present, women who work and earn an income are treated at par with men. In other cases,
a restrictive clause is imposed, only if the age of the female is up to 30 years and if she does
not have an income attracting Income Tax.

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Life insurance is normally offered after a medical examination of the life to be assured.
However, to facilitate greater spread of insurance and also to avoid inconvenience, LIC has
been extending insurance cover without any medical examination, subject to certain
conditions.

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An insurance policy can be 'with' or 'without' profit. In the former, bonuses disclosed, if any,
after periodical valuations are allotted to the policy and are payable along with the contracted
amount.

In 'without' profit plan the contracted amount is paid without any addition. The premium rate
charged for a 'with' profit policy is therefore higher than for a 'without' profit policy.

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Keyman insurance is taken by a business firm on the life of key employee(s) to protect the
firm against financial losses, which may occur due to the premature demise of the Keyman.


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LIC has been one of the pioneering organizations in India who introduced the leverage of
Information Technology in servicing and in their business. Data pertaining to almost 10 crore
policies is being held on computers in LIC. We have gone in for relevant and appropriate
technology over the years.

1964 saw the introduction of computers in LIC. Unit Record Machines introduced in late
1950¶s were phased out in 1980¶s and replaced by Microprocessors based computers in
Branch and Divisional Offices for Back Office Computerization. Standardization of
Hardware and Software commenced in 1990¶s. Standard Computer Packages were developed
and implemented for Ordinary and Salary Savings Scheme (SSS) Policies.

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With a view to enhancing customer responsiveness and services , in July 1995, LIC started a
drive of On Line Service to Policyholders and Agents through Computer. This on line service
enabled policyholders to receive immediate policy status report , prompt acceptance of their
premium and get Revival Quotation, Loan Quotation on demand. Incorporating change of
address can be done on line. Quicker completion of proposals and dispatch of policy
documents have become a reality. All our 2048 branches across the country have been

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covered under front-end operations. Thus all our 100 divisional offices have achieved the
distinction of 100% branch computerisation. New payment related Modules pertaining to
both ordinary & SSS policies have been added to the Front End Package catering to Loan,
Claims and Development Officers¶ Appraisal. All these modules help to reduce time-lag and
ensure accuracy.


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A Metropolitan Area Network, connecting 74 branches in Mumbai was commissioned in

November, 1997, enabling policyholders in Mumbai to pay their Premium or get their Status
Report, Surrender Value Quotation, Loan Quotation etc. from ANY Branch in the city. The
System has been working successfully. More than 10,000 transactions are carried out over
this Network on any given working day. Such Networks have been implemented in other
cities also.

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All 7 Zonal Offices and all the MAN centres are connected through a Wide Area Network
(WAN). This will enable a customer to view his policy data and pay premium from any
branch of any MAN city. As at November 2005, we have 91 centers in India with more than
2035 branches networked under WAN.



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IVRS has already been made functional in 59 centers all over the country. This would enable
customers to ring up LIC and receive information (e.g. next premium due, Status, Loan
Amount, Maturity payment due, Accumulated Bonus etc.) about their policies on the
telephone. This information could also be faxed on demand to the customer.


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LIC¶s Internet site is an information bank. LIC has displayed information about LIC & its
offices . Efforts are on to upgrade our web site to make it dynamic and interactive. The
addresses/e-mail Ids of ur Zonal Offices, Zonal Training Centers, Management Development
Center, Overseas Branches, Divisional Offices and also all Branch Offices with a view to
speed up the communication process.


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LIC has given its policyholders a unique facility to pay premiums through Internet absolutely
free and also view their policy details on Internet premium payments. There are 11 service
providers with whom L I C has signed the agreement to provide this service.

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LIC have set up 150 Interactive Touch screen based Multimedia KIOSKS in prime locations
in metros and some major cities for dissemination information to general public on our
products and services. These KIOSKS are enabling to provide policy details and accept
premium payments.

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LIC have also set up 8 call centres, manned by skilled employees to provide you with
information about our Products, Policy Services, Branch addresses and other organizational
information.

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INDY's Silver Award for best Corporate Film

World Brand Congress Award

OUTLOOK MONEY -- NDTV PROFIT AWARD 2009 in  BEST LIFE INSURER CATEGOR

NDTV PROFIT BUSSINESS LEADERSHIP, AWARDS 2009

CNBC AWAAZ CONSUMER AWARD 2009 for Most preferred insurance company 

ASIA PACIFIC HRM Congress, 2009 Award for INNOVATIVE HR PRACTIC ES

Brand Equity Most Trusted Brand 2009 Top in Insurance Category

Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service Award - 2009

Loyalty Award - 2009 Reader's Digest Trusted Brand Award, 2009 ( Platinum category )

CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards 2008

NDTV Profit Business Leadership Award 2008

INDY's Silver Award for Best Corporate Film

NASCOM IT USER Award 2008

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cBusiness Superbrand India 2009

ASIA BRAND CONGRESS BRAND LEADERSHIP AWARD, 2008


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1) Brand Image

2) Govt Guarantee

3) Claims settlement

4) Pan India presence

5) Large product portfolio

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1) Lethargic Staff

2) Mediocre Top Bosses

3) Large scale Corruption in Main Office

4) Ultra-Slow decision making process

5) Internal problems between Top Management and lower cadre Employees

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1) Pension Market

2) Health Insurance

3) Large Real Estate portfolio

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1) Internal discord

2) New players

3) Red-tapism

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Michael Porter has identified five forces that determine the intrinsic long-run profit
attractiveness of a market or market segment.

‡ Industry competitors

‡ Potential entrants.

‡ Substitutes.

‡ Buyers.

‡ Suppliers.

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A segment like insurance sector which is very attractive because, it is in the growing stage of
the life cycle, and these makes this segment attractive but on the other hand it already
contains aggressive competitors such as: -

‡ Bajaj Alliances

‡ ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

‡ HDFC.

‡ Franklin Templeton.

‡ Reliance.

‡ Unit trust Of India. Etc.

The numbers of Competitors are more but the potential in the Insurances sectors that makes
this Sector attractive to most of the financial companies. So, for that reason LIC have a tuff
competition with other competitors in this segment and secondly LIC had an experience of
more than 20 years of this segment but on the other hand the company like, ICICI PRU had
good experience of this market. So for LIC there is threat mainly with the ICICI PRU. And
in future this can lead to frequent price wars, advertising battles and new-product

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introductions and will make it expensive to compete. But overall this segment is very
attractive.

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Segments attractiveness varies with the height of its entry and exit barriers.

If we look from this angle then this segment is moderate because the entry barriers are high
for the foreign companies, because of the restriction imposed by the Indian government on
them, such as, they can have a maximum of 26% stage in the company and secondly the
companies should have certain amount of money with them as mention by the govt. and the
exit barriers are low. This means that few new firms can enter into the industry and poor-
performing firms can easily exit and for this reason, this segment is more attractive for the
companies.

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When we considers on the substitute products, this segment is unattractive because there are
many actual and potential substitutes for the product of LIC and all the competitors have
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This segment is unattractive because the buyers possess strong or growing bargaining powers
such as: -

‡ The buyer¶s switching cost is low in the financial investment sectors.

‡ The product is undifferentiated because most of the companies in the insurance sector
provide almost same policies and investment plans.

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In this segment, the suppliers bargaining power is more, because banks and CA are the
easiest and the important channel to reach the client and for that reason they have the strong
bargaining power.

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Life Insurance:

Bajaj Allianz

ING Vysya

AMP Sanmar Assurance Limited

SBI Life

Tata AIG Life

HDFC Standard

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Birla Sunlife

Aviva Life Insurance

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual

Max New York Life

Met Life

LIC

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Royal Sundaram

Tata-AIG General

Reliance General

IFFCO-Tokio

ICICI-Lombard

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Bajaj Allianz

HDFC CHUBB

New India Assurance Company Limited

National Insurance Company Limited

United India Insurance Company Limited

Oriental Insurance Limited

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Komal Jeevan - Plan No. 159

Children Deferred - Plan no.41

Jeevan Kishore - Plan no.102

Jeevan Chhaya - Plan no.103

Marriage Endowment/Educational Annuity - Plan No. 90

Jeevan Anurag - Plan no.168

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Endowment with Profits - Plan no.14 Limited Payment Endowment with Profits - Plan
no.48

Jeevan Mitra - Plan no.88

New JanaRaksha Policy - Plan no.91

Jeevan Anand Plan no. 149

Jeevan Mitra Triple Cover - Plan no.133

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Janashree Bima Yojana

Group Insurance Scheme in lieu of EDLI

Group (Term) Insurance Scheme

Group Savings Linked Insurance Scheme

Group Superannuation Scheme

Group Mortgage Redemption Assurance Scheme

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Jeevan Saathi - Plan no.89

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Money Back with Profit - Plan no.75

New Money Back - Plan no.93

Jeevan Surabhi 15 yrs - Plan no.106

Jeevan Surabhi 20 yrs - Plan no.107

Jeevan Surabhi 25 yrs - Plan no.108

Jeevan Bharati Plan No 160

Jeevan Samriddhi Plan No 154, 155, 156 157

Bima Bachat- Plan no.175

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New Jeevan Dhara - Plan no.148

New Jeevan Suraksha Plan no. 147

Jeevan Akshay II Plan no. 163

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Jeevan Nidhi Plan no. 169

Jeevan Akshay V Plan no. 183

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Term Assurance - Plan no.43

Mortgage Redemption - Plan no.52

Jeevan Aadhar - Plan no.114

Market Plus - Plan No 181

Jeevan Vishwas Plan No. 136

Jeevan Saral Plan No. 165

Jeevan Pramukh Plan No. 167

Bima Nivesh 2005 Plan No 171

Money Plus-Plan No 180

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Convertible Term Assurance - Plan no.58

New Bima Kiran

Term Assurance

Anmol Jeevan I Plan No- 164

Amulya Jeevan-Plan No-177

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MARKETING

Until the Indian insurance industry was liberalized, LIC did not have any clear marketing
strategies. Since it enjoyed monopoly status, it could afford to have a very limited focus on
marketing. For the average Indian, LIC became synonymous with life insurance, and over the
years it built up an enviable brand image in both rural and urban areas. The company grew by
leaps and bounds, with people buying its policies due to the tax concessions attached to it. On
account of its position as a monopoly, LIC did not standardize its practices nor did it focused
on providing better customer service to the policyholders... The Visakhapatnam division of
the LIC has signed MoUs with two private broking firms for marketing its products, as
provided for in the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act.

Setting a new trend, the divisional office signed memoranda of understanding with Insol
Insurance Solutions Pvt Ltd, a broking firm, and Vijay Sai Associates, corporate agents, for
the purpose. Mr Surendra Behera, the divisional manager, said that LIC was aggressively
marketing its products through private channels as well.

Till five years ago, one had to hunt for an LIC agent to pay one¶s premium or buy a new
policy. Today, one can get do it on the Internet or at the nearest post office or even better, one
can simply leave a standing instruction with one¶s bank. LIC has recognized that the
consumer of today has no time to go to the vendor. The vendor has to come out of his ivory
tower to where the consumer is located. The reasons could be any number - increased
competition being one major one. The point is that LIC cannot ignore the changing consumer
attitudes and behavior. The customers in the economies in this region, particularly China and
India, deserve marketing strategies that reflected native cultures and people's buying habits.

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DISTRIBUTION

LIC had a large network of 8 lakh agents for distributing its products. The company had
several marketing personnel designated as 'Development Officers' in each branch. These
development officers, in turn, employed and trained a number of agents, and received
incentives for the business generated by these agents, in addition to their regular salaries.
However, this network was not very cost-effective as LIC had to pay bonuses and
commissions twice - to the agents as well as the development officers - for every new policy
and every subsequent renewal. Despite the efforts of the development officers, the retention
of agents had become difficult.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

In order to be able to serve its customers better, LIC had an well-organized grievance
redressal system. The grievance redressal system consisted of Grievance Redressal Officers,
complaint cells, a claims review committee, policyholders' councils, an advisory board, a
consumers' affairs committee and a citizens' charter.

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NEW DELHI:

State-run Life Insurance Corporation pumped over Rs 61,000 crore into the capital market
during 2009-10, 50 per cent more than what it invested in the previous fiscal.

We have invested Rs 61,468 crore in the equity market for the year ended March 2010
which is almost 50 per cent higher than the previous fiscal's, LIC Executive Director
(investment operations) N Mohanraj told PTI.

The equity exposure of LIC was over Rs 20,000 crore higher as the company had invested Rs
40,800 crore in the share market in 2008-09.

During the year, the gross investment, including bonds and government securities, touched
Rs 1,91,737 crore compared to about Rs 1,65,000 crore in the previous fiscal, he said.

On further prodding about investment details, Mohanraj said that it was sector agnostic and
spread across many companies.

Besides, LIC also participated in the primary market in a big way by investing in both initial
public offers and follow-on public offers by public sector companies.

LIC invested about Rs 12,000 crore in the primary market during the year, he said.

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The life insurance major was among the largest investors in NTPC's follow-on public offer
and Rural Electrification Corporation.

Asked about the cause for increasing exposure in the stock markets, Mohanraj said that the
sentiment in the equity market is improved and slew of public offers are in pipeline.

Moreover, the investment is also linked to premium collection. If the premium towards equity
linked ULIPs goes up, the investment in the equity market goes up, he said.

As on February 28, in last fiscal, LIC's market share in terms of first year premium was 65.06
per cent and in terms of policies to 70.79 per cent, as per the IRDA data.

The life insurance behemoth had 61.12 per cent market share in terms of first year premium
income and 70.52 per cent in terms of insurance policies in 2008-09.

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20 April 2010
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today announced the successful deployment of its
insurance product `TCS BaNCS' at the Life Insurance Corporation (International) helping
LIC to automate operations across five countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The TCS BaNCS solution integrates all operations of LIC (International) across the GCC on
a single platform for traditional as well as unit-linked businesses. Besides, it gives LIC
(International) increased operational control, process efficiencies, superior customer service
capabilities and rapid time to market, TCS said in a release.

The solution helps LIC (International) deploy common insurance processes across all
countries in the GCC without compromising on local requirements such as currency, and
driving all validations, calculations and processing sequences centrally.

With a fully automated solution, LIC (International)'s operations are now more efficient,
resulting in higher throughput, while customers can benefit from improved service levels.

The solution also helps LIC (International) introduce new products to the market rapidly
through creation and modification to products using the Product designer workbench
component.

LIC (International) is one of the largest Insurance companies in the GCC in sales volumes.
With the TCS BaNCS insurance product suite becoming operational, LIC (International) is

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now able to manage all of its operations in the Middle East on a single, centralised platform
through efficient processes, transactions and improved customer service.

A key criterion for insurance companies in the region is to develop wide coverage
alongside a range of insurance functionality, while drilling down deep into each service or
product to create an end-to-end solution for superior customer service. With TCS BaNCS
Insurance's comprehensive functional and technological breadth and depth, we will be able
to achieve this objective without any difficulty, R Thamodharan, CEO and MD of LIC
(International), said.

The TCS BaNCS solution will help LIC (International) bring innovative and new solutions
to the market more rapidly while giving them a consolidated view of all processes across
their operations in the GCC. We congratulate LIC (International) on this achievement, and
reiterate our commitment to playing the role of a trusted, technology partner to our clients
in this region, Pradipta Pandit, product head, insurance, TCS BaNCS, said.

TCS Financial Solutions (TCSFS) is a strategic business unit of Tata Consultancy Services
that provides business application solutions to financial institutions globally.

TCSFS, with its comprehensive product portfolio called TCS BaNCS, has a global
customer base of more than 240 institutions operating in over 80 countries.
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31 March 2010
LIC Cards Services Limited today announced the launch of a `Card Protection Plan' for its
credit card customers, which would help them block all their lost or stolen cards on a single
call to CPP's 24-hour helpline from anywhere in the world.

The CPP service, launched in partnership with CPP Assistance Services Pvt Ltd, is India's
first comprehensive card protection service, LIC said in a release.

Card Protection Plan is unique because customers have the benefit of calling CPP's helpline
from anywhere in the world and report their cards as lost. This one call will ensure CPP
notifies all cards as lost, without the customer having to call individual issuers, the release
said.

CPP membership safeguards all of the LIC cardholder's payment cards - credit, debit and
ATM cards. Members also have the facility to register non-financial cards such as store

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cards, loyalty and membership cards.

In addition, CCP also holds safe other valuable documents such as passport, PAN, driving
licence etc for retrieval and reminder services as and when a customer may require them.

Additionally, the CPP member is provided worldwide cover on fraudulent usage of their
lost or stolen cards. This cover starts from 7 days before they report card loss and stretches
to any period after the loss is reported to CPP.

Further, if while travelling in India or abroad the member's cards go missing and CPP is
notified by the customer on discovery of card loss, CPP will facilitate through its authorised
dealer `Emergency Travel & Hotel Assistance,' so that the customer returns home safe. The
Emergency Travel & Hotel Assistance advanced to the cardholder is repayable within 28
days.

LIC cardholders have options to choose between the `Premium' and `Classic' plans. They
can also protect another member of their family by opting for a joint membership on any of
these plans. LIC cardholders can soon enroll themselves for CPP membership by calling a
dedicated number.

Announcing CPP Card Protection Cover, Hemant Bhargava, CEO and director, LIC Cards
Services Limited, said: LIC cardholders can now travel anywhere in the world with
complete peace of mind by opting for CPP membership.

Gagan Maini, CEO of CPP Assistance Services India, said the company is happy to extend
the benefits of Card Protection Plan to the customers of LIC Cards.

LIC Cards Services Ltd, based in New Delhi, is a subsidiary of LIC of India. The company
has been issuing credit cards to LIC policyholders across India.
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18 March 2010
The Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) board will have to take a decision on its
own whether to apply for a banking licence, media reports quoted R Gopalan, secretary,
department of financial services, ministry of finance, as saying.

Speaking on the sidelines of a FICCI seminar on microfinance, Gopalan said, the LIC
board will have to decide that first. Let the board decide, discuss and debate whether LIC

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should get into the banking business or not.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech this year said the government is
planning to open up the banking sector, saying that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is
considering issue of banking licences to private sector players and non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs).

This is great news for India's prominent industrial houses, including Tatas, Birlas, Anil
Ambani-led Reliance group, the Aditya Birla Group, Tata Capital, Anil Ambani-led
Reliance Capital, Malvinder Singh-led Religare group, Muthoot Group, Bajaj Group and
Shriram Finance as a change in regulatory environment will boost the ambitions of these
entities to enter the banking sector (See: Mukherjee to ease banking licence rules).

Many analysts see this as a pleasant surprise as RBI last issued licences to private banks
way back in 2002, to Kotak Mahindra Bank and Rabo Bank.

However, RBI is expected to frame new guidelines for companies willing to apply for a
banking licence.

Under the current RBI guidelines, an institution should have a minimum net worth of Rs300
crore, and no single entity or group of related entities can hold more than 10 per cent in a
bank to apply for a licence.

LIC is the largest insurer in India with a market share of over 60 per cent in the sector.

In 2009-10, the insurance giant is expected to collect a sum as large as Rs176,000 crore as
premium income.

LIC also has subsidiaries operating in housing finance and mutual funds, and holds 10.53
per cent stake in SBI, the largest lender in the country, 10.35 per cent in the largest private
sector lender, ICICI Bank and 7.02 per cent in HDFC Bank.


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21 October 2009

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has hiked its stake in Tata Tea to 13.93 per cent
from 11.55 per cent through open market transactions.

LIC bought 14,73,649 shares, representing 2.38 per cent stake in Tata Tea for around
Rs109.75 crore, the company said in a disclosure on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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LIC has pumped in around Rs90,000 crore into the stock markets during the first-half of the
current fiscal. Of this, Rs16,000 crore has gone into equities.

A major share of LIC's equity investments this year are expected to be in the banking and
pharma sectors.

LIC invests around 8-9 per cent of the total premium collected in the stock market every
year.

The insurance major could end financial year 2009-10 with investments exceeding the
targeted Rs1,75,000 crore.


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30 July 2009

Public sector insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has reported an impressive
20 per cent year-on-year growth in the April-June first quarter premium income at
Rs9,088.68 crore. LIC's first quarter premium income stood at Rs7,524 crore during last
year.

The company's strong showing pulled the overall industry growth marginally out of red at
0.95 per cent even as other insurers continued to flounder in the depressed economic
conditions.

With is performance, LIC has increased its market share to 62 per cent among life insurers
in the first quarter of current fiscal.

Private insurance firms first quarter income fell 20 per cent at Rs5,427 crore.

According to a senior LIC official the insurer is focusing a lot on training. It has already
provided post recruitment training to around 50,000 agents in the last three months and
another three lakh will get trained by December 2009.

He added that LIC is also more focused on selling traditional plans as people seem to be not
disposed favourably to Unit Linked Insurance Plans (Ulips).

According to analysts big players would continue to slip on growth this year as they are

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going for consolidation with branches being closed and a cost cutting exercise under way.

The LIC official said private firms are hampered by capital constraints. They are
constrained in launching traditional plans as these require large amounts of capital to meet
solvency norms.

Overall, the life-insurance industry saw a slight improvement in first quarter premium
income at Rs 14,456.34 crore against Rs 14,320.21 crore during the same period last year.

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13 July 2009

Bringing an end to almost a month's speculation, Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc bought 35
per cent stake in India's LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Co Ltd (LICMF AMC), a unit
of the country's largest insurer, the Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd (LIC) for about
Rs308 crore ($63 million), valuing the fund house at Rs880 crore.cAs per the agreement
between both parties signed in Mumbai on Saturday, the acquisition will be carried out by
the Nomura Asset Management Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings Inc.

Out of the Rs308 crore proceeds, Rs80 crore will go to LICMF and the rest to the existing
shareholders of the asset manager.

The deal involves issue of fresh equity as well as secondary sale. On closing of the deal,
LIC will hold 45 per cent stake in the LICMF AMC, Nomura would have 35 per cent and
the remaining 20 per cent will be held by LIC Housing Finance.

Nomura Holding's deputy president and chief operating officer Takumi Shibata said: It is
vital to have a local partner with a strong reputation here. With LIC's exceptional brand
image, we will be able to apply best practices to our combined business through our
extensive experience as a global asset manager.''

LICMF's average assets under management for June 2009 were Rs32,415 crore, about 4.8
per cent of the total mutual fund assets and the seventh-largest in India.

Atushi Yoshikawa, Nomura Asset Management's CEO said: ''India is one of the fastest

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growing markets for asset management in Asia and is key to Nomura's push to be the
world-class asset-management firm.''

Tokyo-based Nomura is a leading financial services group comprising Nomura Holdings

and its subsidiaries with worldwide reach, focusing on domestic retail, global markets,
global investment and merchant banking and asset management. The company has presence
in 30 countries including India and employs around 18,000 people. Nomura Asset
Management had assets worth $192 billion as of March 2009.

Under the deal, Nomura will provide the much needed expertise in equity management to
LICMF. LICMF will continue to manage the assets, while the chief operating officer and
chief investment officer (equity) will be from Nomura. Nomura also mentioned that LICMF
would manage some of Nomura's investments in Indian markets.

LIC chairman T S Vijayan said the agreement does not envisage any increase in Nomura's
holding in LICMF although, if any party decides to sell its stake, the others will have the
right of first refusal.

Vijayan said that LICMF would also be looking at launching an offshore fund as there is
enough appetite for Indian stocks among overseas investors.

The valuation of LICMF's assets at Rs880 crore is around 2.7 per cent of the total assets
under its management which is lower compared to 4-5 per cent for earlier similar deals,
apparently due to LICMF's large portfolio of debt assets. However, LICMF seems
contented as it is eyeing mainly the growth prospects in equity funds and international
exposure together with its experienced partner.

LIC, India's largest domestic institutional investor, has invested over Rs8,000 crore in
equities during the first quarter and booked a profit of Rs2,800 crore. Earlier LIC
announced that it would invest Rs50,000 crore in equity market this fiscal.


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24 June 2009

The insurance giant is also planning to raise its stake in the Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) ±
one of the pioneer private sector banking institutions in South India with more than 530 branches
across the country ± in which it is presently holding 1.91 per cent, in order to enhance the business

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relations with the bank, LIC chairman T S Vijayan said in Kolkata yesterday

Current regulations permit a maximum stake of 10 per cent by an insurance company in a bank.

In March 2009, the insurance major had raised its stake in state-run Indian Overseas Bank to 9.96
per cent purchasing additional shares worth Rs57.65 crore in open-market transactions. LIC has
started promoting its insurance products through SIB and has similar plans for the marketing of LIC
credit card apart from collection of policy premiums. SIB has ended the tie-up it had with ICICI
Prudential in favour of LIC.

SIB intends to expand its presence in North India by setting up several new branches in various
cities with 42 of them planned in the Delhi region alone and targets Rs36,000 crore business in
2009-10, 16 per cent up from last year.

In another development, LIC has hiked its stake in Tata Coffee, producer and exporter of coffee, to
5.28 per cent from 4.84 per cent by investing Rs1.63 crore through open market transactions.

LIC plans to partly divest its stake in UTI Asset Management Co. Ltd. (UTIAMC), along with other
three shareholders. State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and LIC holds 25
per cent each in UTIAMC and may sell up to 6.5 per cent each.

Vijayan said: ''UTIAMC has decided to rope in a strategic partner. The deal is yet to be frozen and
has not come to a critical stage. But all the four partners will take the same decision. We will be
acting in unison. We will offload stake in equal proportion.''

Regarding a possible stake sale in LIC Mutual Fund, Vijayan said that LIC had no plans of
offloading any stake in its mutual fund arm although earlier reports indicated Japanese financial firm
Nomura's interest in LIC MF. c


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24 June 2009
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India's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) today said said it would
increase its investment in the equity market this fiscal. We expect to invest nearly Rs50,000
crore ($10.27 billion) in equities this year against Rs 40,800 crore last year, LIC managing
director Thomas Mathew told reporters in New Delhi.

So far in this fiscal, the largest life insurer has invested about
Rs8,000 crore in equities. As per exposure norms, LIC is also
investing in government papers and corporate debt.

According to LIC chairman T S Vijayan ''Last year, we infused

Rs40,000 crore in equities. As per exposure norms, LIC also invests
in government and corporate securities, and bought about Rs40,000
crore worth corporate debt last year.

At a time when private insurance companies are struggling to recover from the financial
turmoil, the state-owned company envisages a premium growth of 20 per cent in the current
year to Rs186,000 crore from Rs155,000 crore last year.

Our total premium collection stood at Rs1,55,000 crore during the financial year 2008-09.
This fiscal we are targetting premium collections of Rs1,80,000 crore, Vijayan said in
Kolkata while speaking at a seminar organised by industrial chamber FICCI.

LIC expects a 25-per cent growth in new premium in 2009-10 to Rs65,000 crore compared to
Rs52,000 crore in 2008-09 when the new premium dropped by 10 per cent. Around Rs12,000
crore of the new premium is expected to come from group insurance products.

Vijayan said, The life insurance industry, which was doing very well till 2008, suffered a
setback during the last fiscal due to slowdown in the market. And our new premium
collections also came down though overall premium collections were good. But since the
beginning of this fiscal, there are some signs of recovery in the market and our premium
collections during the first three months of this fiscal have gone up significantly compared to
the previous fiscal.

The chairman said, last year the growth in first premium was hit by the economic slowdown
and now, as the economy is showing signs of revival and the market is stabilising, the
company is expected to perform well, adding that the business during the current financial
year has been good so far with premium income rising at 25-30 per cent. Improvement in
GDP has typically fueled demand for insurance in developing economies, he said.

For the current fiscal year, the company plans to have an equal mix of both Unit-Linked
Insurance Policies (ULIP) and traditional products.

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The chairman further said that the company is going ahead with its plans to launch a domestic
private equity fund on real estate, along with a partner.

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LIC planned to enter into more alliances with banks and with leading educational institutes
for training. It would also increase offshore activities and set up an exclusive technology
company for sourcing software. Other priorities were the setting up of special cells and
single-window facilitation centers for high-end customers, rapid introduction of innovative
policies, and a renewed thrust on mass and group business. The corporation also decided to
offer value-added services to high-end customers, besides special services. At a later stage, it
planned to have separate dedicated branches for high-end policyholders. The decision to have
its own separate IT set-up was driven by the requirement of software for the sprawling
network of LIC's branches and other offices.

People of LIC claim that they have accepted the challenge of private players and are now
focussing on every segment. New products like Jeevan Rekha and Anmol Jeevan have been
launched to compete with the schemes of competitors. The earlier policies are being revised
to adjust with the falling interest rates and needs of the buyers.

The technology needed in the insurance sector is the high-tech computer technology. If we do
not have this technology, we may purchase it outright from the international market. And if
we cannot purchase, we can hire it. There is no need to liberalized the insurance sector to get
the computer technology that is only needed for the insurance sector. Therefore, the country
is not going to derive any benefit by the induction of foreign insurance companies so far as
technology is concerned. The foreign insurance companies do not have the elaborate
infrastructure to be able to go to the rural areas. They will try to corner the urban business
and by doing so, they will be able to take a big slice out of the investible fund that the
nationalized insurance sector has generated. Therefore, there is going to be diversion of
funds. .Ninety percent of the Indian population and the Indian society is not going to be
benefited by the induction of foreign companies. As the penetration of the insurance business
depends upon the extent to which we can enable the people to increase their purchasing
power, their income and employment.

More over what we observe from the product of LIC these are seems to be flat products with
some limited boundaries in there features. It lacks in riders. So it LIC should give emphasis to
the riders where it will have more flexibility in the products.

LIC products are time bound products where the products are close ended in dates. But it
should not be close ended, it should be continued product where there will no saturation.

Regular training program for agents should be there for continuous professional development
in selling and understanding the product. Because life insurance is a service where product is
given to the customer according to the person¶s suitability. So regular training can help
agents to understand the psychology of the customers and their suitable condition.

LIC also should also expand its business by tie up with the other banks (Bancasurance
Partner). Although it has tie up with some of major banks like Bank of India but it has not

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reached totally up to mark. So now LIC should creat more bancasurance partners to enhance
its business.

Now today Micro Insurance is a important concept to build there market in rural area.
Although LIC has its name and fame but its reach is limited to the rural areas. The private
players like Aviva, Tata-AIG has a good coverage over it. So LIC should enhance its market
through micro insurance where 73% of Indian people are concentrated in the rural areas.
There is a concept of micro insurance where LIC adopt in rural area.

Distribution channel LIC should adopt to get the market through Micro insurance

‡ Agents

‡ Formal Banks

‡ Regional Rural Banks

‡ Cooperative Banks

‡ SHGs & their Federations

‡ NGOs & MFIs

‡ Post Offices

‡ Internet & Rural Kiosks & Rural Knowledge Centers

THE MICROINSURANCE PRODUCTS LIC CAN ADOPT

‡ GPA

‡ JPA

‡ UHS

‡ PA

‡ NAGRIK SURAKSHA

‡ HUT

‡ CATTLE

‡ SHEEP & GOAT

‡ HOUSEHOLDERS

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‡ MEDICAL

‡ FISHPONDS

‡ PLANTATION

‡ FARMERS PACKAGE

‡ RAJARAJESWARI

‡ BHAGYASREE CHILD

‡ BULLOCK CART

‡ BICYCLE

‡ OTHER RURAL INSURANCES.


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BREAKTHROUGH APPROACHES IN FOUR AREAS

The industry is at a turning point in growth and sophistication. Intensifying competition and
the growing presence of players hungry to build a meaningful presence are changing the game.
The incumbent LIC has continued to hold its leadership position in terms of market share
and is competing with new aggression. The two largest life insurers after LIC account for
nearly 50 per
cent of the non-LIC market share, while the third largest player has more than doubled its market
share from 5 per cent in 2004 to 11 per cent in 2007.

While their presence is still dwarfed by LIC, the largest of the private-sector players have
written 1.7 to 1.8 million policies in over 550 locations across the country. Significantly, these
players are entering second- and third-tier towns, and even rural areas. Meanwhile, smaller
private-sector players are hungry for a larger slice of the pie, and a slew of new players intend to
enter the market.

Some new entrants, from industries experiencing discontinuous growth such as

telecommunications or retail, have the mindset and capabilities to scale up rapidly. These players
are planning to introduce new distribution and service models that could fundamentally alter
buying behaviour and change the basis of competition, for example through the ³shopassurance´
model or leveraging a vast telecommunications franchisee.

Faced with such rapidly intensifying competition, along with an evolving consumer base, we see
the need for India¶s life insurance players to develop bold, new approaches in several key
areas: differentiated strategies for core market segments; distribution excellence; operational
efficiency and capturing untapped demand in health insurance and pensions.

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THREE CORE MARKET SEGMENTS REQUIRE DIFFERENTIATED STRATEGIES

Life insurance companies have an opportunity to create targeted and tailored Life insurance
companies have an opportunity to create targeted and tailored areas offerings for different
segments, building a different business model and even a different brand for each of the three
core segments of the market, as described below.

³Financial advisor´ to the high net worth customer. To better serve high net worth individuals,
life insurers could deploy a high-quality, specialised sales force, offer comprehensive financial
advice and a broad product range (including third-party products) coupled with tailored products
for specific sub-segments, and set up a separate unit to serve these customers.

tailored product and distribution model for low-income urban groups. Life insurance players
could build a non-traditional, profitable business with a separate range of simple products,
minimal documentation, and low-cost, highly productive affinity-group-based distribution.

Partnerships across a disaggregated value chain for the rural population. A successful model can
be built for rural markets comprising a broad, bundled product suite of microinsurance,
microcredit, savings, and other similar products, using partnerships and alliances for extensive
consumer access and the infrastructure needed for distributed servicing.


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India is among the important emerging insurance markets in the world. Life insurance will
grow very rapidly over the next decades in India. The major drivers include sound economic
fundamentals, a rising middle-income class, an improving regulatory framework and rising
risk awareness. The fundamental regulatory changes in the insurance sector in 1999 will be
critical for future growth. Despite the restriction of 26% on foreign ownership, large foreign
insurers have entered the Indian market. State-owned insurance companies still have
dominant market positions. But, this would probably change over the next decade. In the life
sector, new private insurers are bringing in new products to the market. They also have used
innovative distribution channels to reach a broader range of the population. There is huge in
the largely undeveloped private pension market. The same is true for the health insurance
business. The Indian general insurance segment is still heavily regulated. Three quarters of
premiums are generated under the tariff system. Reinsurance in India is mainly provided by
the General Insurance Corporation of India, which receives 20% compulsory cessions from
other general insurers. Finally, the rural sector has potential for both life and general
insurance. To realize this potential, designing suitable products is important. Insurers will
need to pay special attention to the characteristics of the rural labor force, like the prevalence
of irregular income streams and preference for simple products.

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