Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's largest life insurer, has set a pan-India premium collection target of Rs two lakh crore in the current financial year.
If achieved, this would be a growth of 11.11 per cent over Rs 1.8 lakh crore achieved by the company in 2009-10.
“We have targeted a premium collection of Rs two lakh crore in 2010-11. LIC has clocked a growth of 100 per cent in new premium collection and 25 per cent growth in overall premium collection so far in the current fiscal,” T S Vijayan, chairman of LIC told reporters here.
Asked if the corporation was mulling to launch new products, he said, “We have a pipeline of products ready for launch but these will be rolled out depending on the market conditions. LIC is likely to come out with two new insurance products before the end of the current financial year.”LIC has already launched two new products in this fiscal- Pension Plus and Endowment Plus. It had launched four new products in 2009-10.
The public sector insurer is also aiming to ramp up its network of agents. LIC has around 14 lakh agents across the country at present and intends to add 1.5 lakh agents this fiscal. The corporation also plans to recruit about 5000 development officers in 2010-11.LIC is also looking to expand its international operations further through opening of a branch in Singapore.
"We will set up a branch in Singapore after we get the regulatory approval for the same. Presently, we have branches in London, Fiji and Mauritius. LIC also has operations in the SAARC countries of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh”, said Vijayan.
In the Orissa circle consisting of four divisions- Sambalpur, Berhampur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar- LIC plans to sell 15 lakh policies in 2010-11.
Vijayan today inaugurated a newly constructed building of the Bhubaneswar division in the presence of Vinay Sah, zonal manager (east central zone) and R Mishra, senior divisional manager (Bhubaneswar). This division has 542 employees and more than 7000 agents. By the end of August this year, the division had procured 58719 policies, bringing Rs 37.03 crore of first premium income.In 2009-10, the Bhubaneswar division procured 198385 policies and collected Rs 150.22 crore as first premium income. The division settled 104209 claims and paid Rs 174.48 crore towards claims proceeds.
