In what could buoy the equity market next fiscal, Life Insurancecorporation (LIC) said its equity exposure could go up to 10% of its investible funds.This would mean an additional Rs 10,000 crore long-term funds flowing into the capital market next fiscal, which is expected to see public offers worth about Rs 40,000 crore."Our equity exposure is about 8% of investible funds. If opportunity comes, we can go up to 10%," LIC chairman R N Bhardwaj said today."Our total exposure in equities is more than that of all the mutual funds," he added.LIC has investible funds of over Rs 3,70,000 crore of which Rs 31,000 crore is invested in equities and over 50% in central and state government papers.Bhardwaj said LIC's assets are slated to cross Rs 4,00,000 crore this fiscal from Rs 3,40,000 crore in 2003-04.Confident of posting over 35% growth this fiscal, LIC is planning three new products including a single premium scheme and a pension plan."Our individual assurance segment has grown by 35% in premium income at about Rs 11,000 crore so far. Our group insurance schemes have grown by 67-127% in the past few years," Bhardwaj said.According to data compiled by IRDA, LIC has mopped up Rs 10,316 crore in premium by selling over 1.26 crore policies between April-December this fiscal."We still have two months to go," Bhardwaj said, indicating that premium income could cross Rs 13,000-14,000 crore in the current fiscal.
