LIC new premium income up 245%

The Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) new premium income in the first quarter of 2006-07 increased more than 245 per cent over a year ago as agents pushed the liberal ULIPs which have been phased out by Irda from July 1, 2006.

LIC earned new business premium of over Rs 8,000 crore during April-June 2006 against Rs 2,300 crore a year earlier. Almost 80 per cent of the new business premium in the current year was from the sale of the old ULIPs.

LIC has launched a Market Plus unit-linked policy on the lines of the new guidelines and will be launching its second ULIP product soon, said T S Vijayan, chairman of LIC, at the signing of an bancassurance agreement with Bank of Maharashtra. LIC has 39 bancassurance partners and is targeting Rs 700 crore of new business premium from bancassurance.