LIC Vizag eyes 42% growth in first premium

The Visakhapatnam division of the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which covers three north coastal districts, is targeting to achieve about 42 per cent growth in first premium collection during the current financial year as compared with the last year.

Last financial year, the division collected Rs 139.61 crore as the first premium, 38.82 per cent higher over the previous year.

"During 2006-07, our first premium collection target is Rs 200.5 crore," N Prabhakar Rao, senior divisional manager, told mediapersons here on Monday.

The division sold about 3.36 lakh new policies in FY06, recording an increase of 35 per cent compared with the preceding year. For the current year, it aims to sell 4.47 lakh policies.

"The corporation is expecting 30 per cent of the total targeted business through sale of unit-linked insurance policies. We are also planning to increase the number of agents significantly during this financial year besides concentrating on high value policies," he said.

The Vizag division sold 4,240 policies with a premium income of Rs 3.84 crore through alternative channels in FY06.

This year, Rao said, it was aiming to sell 8,000 policies with a premium income of Rs 10 crore. A special train to commemorate 50 years of LIC, 'Zindagi Express', an exhibition on rails will come to Vizag on June 7.