LIC premium in Goa rises 32% in FY06

Nearly half of Goa's population is covered by policies issued by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

The Goa division of LIC is catering to the needs of nearly 5 lakh policyholders all over the state and servicing 7,25,591 policies, said Priti Panwar, senior divisional manager, Goa division, LIC.

Speaking at the golden jubilee celebration of the insurance behemoth here Panwar disclosed that the policies issued by Goa division as on August 14 stood at 21,061 policies, raking in a premium of Rs 35.12 crore. LIC, which is growing at a rate of 29.77 per cent, ranks second in the region in terms of growth, she added.

The Goa division cleared a maturity amount worth Rs 45,994 and survival benefit claims amounting to Rs 99.25 crore as on March 2006. "In all, 1,741 claims amounting to Rs 12.34 crore were settled," Panwar added.

The total premium income of the division for 2005-06 was Rs 123.22 crore as against the previous year's Rs 93.30 crore, registering a growth rate of 32.07 per cent. "Under the 'green channel', 10,459 policies were cleared on the spot for better servicing of policyholders," she informed.

Panwar also pointed out that the division ranked first at the national level in terms of administrative environment with excellent ratings for audit and inspection and quick servicing of policyholder. She added that a single-window system had been introduced in all branches of the division.

The payment of premium has been made easy and can be done through many channels such as internet, ECS and ATMs. Individual policyholders can register themselves under enterprise portal solutions on the website www.licindia.com, she said.

Panwar informed that LIC had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Goa government's social welfare department earlier this year for the implementation of Sahara scheme under group insurance portfolio.

Sahara is a social security scheme based on the benefits of LIC's Janashree Bima Yojana and Shiksha Sahayog Yojana. The risk cover benefits of the Janashree Bima Yojana have been raised with effect from August 15, she added.

She said many new products, like Bima Nivesh 2005, Bima Bachat, Bima Gold, Amulya Jeevan, Jeevan Tarang, Jeevan Akshay-IV, were launched during the golden jubilee celebrations, which began on September 1 last year.

LIC has proposed to start 25 satellite Sampark branches across the country, including one in Goa, later this year.