R R Dash, zonal manager, said the response was encouraging.
"We have already sold around 8,287 policies under this plan, where the total premium amounted to Rs 19.18 crore within the first 7 days from its launch," he added.
Consequently, LIC was targetting growth 50 per cent in the first year premium income (FYP) on the back of the new products like money plus and MP-1, he added. During 2007-08, FYP stood at Rs 4,102 crore out of the total premium income of Rs 13,128 crore in the Eastern region, said Dash.
The surplus of LIC from the zone surged to Rs 6193 crore, up 30 percent from Rs 4740 crore reported in 2006-07. "We are targetting 50 per cent increase in the surplus in the current fiscal," Dash said.
LIC is planning to launch 2-3 new plans this year including a pension plan.
Dash emphasised the need to focus more on the traditional products like Jeevan tarang, Jeevan Anand and Jeevan Saathi, some of the conventional products which assures stable income in the long run compared to ULIP products.
"We will be revamping these traditional products, popularising them and giving them better publicity to achieve the target 70:30 mix between unit-linked and conventional plans," he added.
This is in tandem with their decision to balance their product portfolio with more conventional policies.
The corporation has also granted a loan of Rs 1,583.26 crore, against government securities to the government of West Bengal for state development, which is the second highest amount granted by LIC, after Maharashtra where the total loan amounted to Rs 1,622.58 crore.
