The Indian pension market is rapidly vanishing. The market shrunk almost 90 per cent in 2002-03, with assured and guaranteed long-term annuities being discontinued.
The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which has a 70 per cent share in the pension business, is expecting a premium income of Rs 275 crore from this segment for 2002-03. This is around 10 per cent of the Rs 2,564 crore it mopped up in 2001-2002. In 2000-01, it earned Rs 563 crore.
The declining figures in 2002-03 have partly been attributed to lower sales of pension plans.
