Ch-1 INTRODUCTION

[A] INDUSTRY PROFILE 1.1 Insurance Insurance is basically a sharing device. The losses to assist resulting from natural calamities like fire, flood, earthquake, accidents, etc are met out of the common pool contributed by large number of persons who are exposed to similar risks. This contribution of many is used to pay the losses suffered by unfortunate few. However the basic principle is that loss should occur as a result of natural calamities or unexpected events which are beyond the human control. Secondly insured person should not make my gains out of insurance. 1.2 Classification of Insurance Insurance business can be divided into two broad categories, life and non-life. 1. Life insurance is concerned with making provision for a specific event happening to the individual, such as death. 2. Non-life is more commonly concerned with the provision for specific event, which affects a property, such as fire, flood, theft etc. 1.3 Life Insurance Market The Life Insurance market in India is an underdeveloped market that was only tapped by the state owned LIC till the entry of private insurers. The penetration of life insurance products was 19 percent of the total 400 million of the insurable population. With the entry of the private insurers the rules of the game have changed.

The 12 private insurers in the life insurance market have already grabbed nearly 9 percent of the market in terms of premium income. The new business premiums of the 12 private players has tripled to Rs 1000 core in 2002- 03 over last year. Meanwhile, state owned LIC's new premium business has fallen. The private insurers also seem to be scoring big in other ways- they are persuading people to take out bigger policies. For instance, the average size of a life insurance policy before privatization was around Rs 50,000. That has risen to about Rs 80,000. But the private insurers are ahead in this game and the average size of their policies is around Rs 1.1 lakhs to Rs 1.2 lakhs- way bigger than the industry average. The state owned companies still dominate segments like endowments and money back policies. But in the annuity or pension products business, the private insurers have already wrested over 33 percent of the market. And in the popular unit-linked insurance schemes they have a virtual monopoly, with over 90 percent of the customers.4 1.4 Important milestones in the life insurance business in India: 1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate the life insurance business. 1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance businesses. 1938: Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.

1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over by the central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament-

LIC Act 1956- with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 core from the Government of India. (2) 1.5 Present Scenario The Government of India liberalized the insurance sector in March 2000 with the passage of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Bill, lifting all entry restrictions for private players and allowing foreign players to enter the market with some limits on direct foreign ownership. Under the current guidelines, there is a 26 percent equity cap for foreign partners in an insurance company. There is a proposal to increase this limit to 49 percent. The opening up of the sector is likely to lead to greater spread and deepening of insurance in India and this may also include restructuring and revitalizing of the public sector companies. In the private sector 12 life insurance and 8 general insurance companies have been registered. A host of private Insurance companies operating in both life and non-life segments have started selling their insurance policies since 2001. 1.6 GDP contribution With largest number of life insurance policies in force in the world, Insurance happens to be a mega opportunity in India. Its a business growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent annually and presently is of the order of Rs 450 billion. Together with banking services, it adds about 7 per cent to the countrys GDP. Gross premium collection is nearly 2 per cent of GDP and funds available with LIC for investments are 8 per cent of GDP.

Yet, nearly 80 per cent of Indian population is without life insurance cover while health insurance and non-life insurance continues to be below international standards. And this part of the population is also subject to weak social security and pension systems with hardly any old age income security. This itself is an indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense.

[B] Company profile:The largest life insurance company in India, Life Insurance Corporation is fully owned by the government. It provides individual life insurance, group insurance and pension plans. Its subsidiaries include Life Insurance Corporation of India International, LIC Nepal, LIC Lanka, LIC Housing Finance and LICHFL Care Homes. It has over 12 million policy holders and over 9 lakh agents. It has underwritten more than 120 million policies. LIC saw computers in 1964. Today the company is on the Internet and is utilizing Information Technology in servicing its clients. LIC provides a rewarding career as sales agents. It offers world class training, freedom to work and unmatched financial strength. Products & Services LIC offers a wide array of insurance products to its customers such as insurance plans, pension plans, unit-linked plans, special plans and group scheme. During FY08, the company introduced certain new products such as Profit Plus, Fortune Plus, Jeevan Akshay, Jeevan Amrit & Amulya Jeevan. As of Mar 2007, total number of agents of the company stood at 1.1 mn while the total number of policies issued was 38.2 mn. The premium earned by the company reported a growth of 41% in FY07 when compared to the previous year. During the year, the company insured 34.28 mn individuals for the first time, taking the ratio of first insurance to total business to 89.61% for number of policies.

Key Highlights 97.11% of maturity claims are settled on or before the due date. In FY08, LIC has settled over 13.9 mn claims, amounting to Rs 372.06 bn. The total life fund of LIC stood at Rs 6866.16 bn as on Mar 31, 2008. The total number of In-Force policies was over 233 mn as on Mar 31, 2008. As on Mar 31, 2008, LICs total assets valued at Rs 8038.2 bn.

 Total income increased to Rs 2063.6 bn by the end of FY08, showing a growth rate of

Cliam: Claim settlement is one of the most important services that an insurance company can provide to its customers. Insurance companies have an obligation to settle claims promptly. You will need to fill a claim form and contact the financial advisor from whom you bought your policy. Submit all relevant documents such as original death certificate and policy bond to your insurer to support your claim. Most claims are settled by issuing a cheque within 7 days from the time they receive the documents. However, if your insurer is unable to deal with all or any part of your claim, you will be notified in writing. Policy Servicing This section is designed to give you information that you may require incase you wish to make changes in Personal details or Policy details in your existing policy. The changes that you can avail of are:

Change in Personal Details Changes you can avail of are:

Changes in your mailing address Change of Nominee or Appointee

Change in Policy Benefits

 Reduction in term of the policy Removal of additional benefits (Riders) Reduction in the level cover/premium of your policy Change in frequency of premium payment In case of unit linked policies in addition to the above you can

also avail of the following:

Paying additional premium (Top-up) Changing your current investment composition (Fund Switch) Changing your future premium direction (Premium Redirection) Increase your regular premium

ACHEVMENT AND AWARDS:

ABCI Award for Best Online Campaign 2012 ABCI Award for Wall Calender 2012 Indy's Award for Best House Magzine 2012 Indy's Award for Best Corporate Film 2012 Consumer Superbrand Award 2012 My FM Brand Leadership Award in 2012 NDTV Profit Business Leadership Award 2012 Outlook Money Award for Best Life Insurer of the Year 2012 CNBC TV 18 Award for Leading Insurance Company My FM Award for excellence in Life Insurance India Pride Award from Dainik Bhaskar Jamnalal Bajaj Award for Fair Business Practices in Service Industry

Money Today FPCIL Award - Best Life Insurance Provider Readers Digest Trusted Brand Award

Power Brand Award Most Popular Youth Brand BFSI Sector Readers Digest Superbrands

Products Each of us leads a unique life and so has unique needs, HDFC Standard Life offers a range of products and invites you to choose the one that suits you best
Plan 1. Savings Plans Endowment Assurance Plan Unit Linked Endowment Plan Life Insurance with Savings Life Insurance & Savings with choice of investment funds Childrens Plan Unit Linked Young Star Plan Financial Security for your child Financial security for your child Benefits

with choice of investment funds Money Back Plan 2. Investment Plans Single Premium Whole Of Life Plan 3. Protection Plans Term Assurance Plan Loan Cover Term Assurance Plan 4. Retirement Plans Personal Pension Plan Unit Linked Pension Plan Savings for retirement Retirement Savings with a choice Life Insurance at an affordable price Life Insurance customized for home loans Investment with Life Insurance Life Insurance with Savings

of investment funds

MISSION, VISION, VALUE OF COMPANY

Mission:"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 resources for economic development."

Vision:"A trans-nationally competitive financial conglomerate of significance to societies and Pride of India.

OBJECTIV:

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.

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.

Ch-2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Problem statement:

To study the factor which influence the various age group to buy the insurance policy?

2.2 Research Objectives 1. Primary objective:

To identify the factor which influence the various age group to buy the insurance policy?

2. Secondary objectives:

To measure the satisfaction level of the customer of the life insurance corporation in the bardoli area. To study the awareness of the life insurance company in the bardoli area. 2.3 Research Design During the primary research, I have done pilot testing of people in bardoli area. From that I have prepared the questionnaire and then done my final survey in bardoli. At the initial stage the research is exploratory because it started with review of literature which was available on internet as well as in books. After framing the research statement, the research is now Descriptive Design because it describes the present scenario at a particular point time and consists of a sample of the population of interests. Thus it provides the overall picture at a given time.

Pre-testing Before the final survey, 10 people were surveyed first to check the validity of the questionnaire.

2.4 Defining target population

Sampling Design In this project Descriptive design is used. This is one shot research study at a given point of time and consists of a sample of the population of interest. This gives the overall picture at a given time. Sampling plan Sampling plan helps to collect the data more accurately from the market. Sampling plan is made to make the research more effective when the time available fir research is limited. Sample description The people who are living in bardoli and surrounding region. Sample size For my project, the sample size taken for the survey purpose is of from bardoli region. Time duration: 1th Jun to 30th July. Two months period was available for the research and data collection. people

Sampling frame: General people of bardoli including shop keepers, businessmen, farmers, service holders, house wives, etc. Sampling technique Instead of probability sampling, here Non-probability Convenience sampling technique is used because of time constraints.

Execution of sampling process I have collected the data from the people of bardoli region through personal interview with them. 2.5 Research instrument Questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection as the research instrument. Questionnaire consists of _

Close ended questions ( Many questions includes use of scale) Open ended questions

2.6 Data collection For the preparation of the project both types of data are used. i.e.

Primary Data Secondary Data

Primary Data: Primary data are those data which are collected by the researcher for the first time for his use. These data are pure and therefore more reliable. Primary data gives the original picture of the study or situation for which they are collected.

In my project, the primary data are collected through the use of survey method. In the survey the respondents were personally interviewed for data collection. Secondary Data Secondary data are those data which are once collected by any other person in past for his purpose and now being used by the researcher for his purpose. These data are less reliable compared to primary data because these data may be obsolete with the passing of time and may have bias information. In my project, most of the secondary data are collected from internet. Some data regarding the company were obtained with the help of he company guide. Some data related to the topic were collected from the books related to that topic.

2.7 Limitations of the research

As many of the respondents were not that much familiar with English, I

needed to explain each and every question in Guajarati or Hindi to them.

The survey was conducted in bardoli only so, it can not cover the

preference of other areas client.

2.7Statistical tests used

In this project report, I have used One Sample T-test, paired sample t-test and measures of central tendency.

One Sample t-test

The one sample t-test is the statistical test which is used to test the difference between sample statistic and a hypothesized population parameter. It is used when the types of data are interval in nature. Paired sample t-test The paired sample procedure compares the mean of two variables for a single group. The procedure computes the difference between the values of the two variables for each case and test weather the average differs from zero. For example in a study of high blood pressure, all patients are measure again. Thus, each subject has two measures, often call before and after measure. An alternative design for which this test is use is a match pairs or case control study, in which each record in the data file contains the response for the patients and also for his or her matched control subject. In a blood pressure study, patient and also for his or her matched control subject. In a blood pressure study, patients and controls might be matched by 75 year old patient with a 75 year old control group member. One sample t-test measure the different between the hypotheses mean and the calculated mean while paired t-test measure the mean difference between two parameters. Measures of central tendency There are three parameters for the measure of central tendency.

Mean is used when the data are of scale type in nature. Median is used when the data are of ordinal i.e. interval type in nature. Mode is used when the data are of nominal type in nature.