LIC- A dedicated service to the nation

Life Insurance Corporation of India was established on 1st September, 1956 with the amalgamation of 245 foreign and Indian Insurance Companies with a mission of providing insurance protection to people in every nook and corner of the country and mobilizing their savings for nation building activities. In its 42 years of existence, LIC, today is regarded not merely as an insurance organization but as a movement by itself.
In its relentless pursuit of spreading the message of the life insurance, LIC has grown into an organization with a vast market spread and strong marketing base. Today, it operates from 1363 centres through its 20,000 Development Officers backed by a dedicated band of over 1,05,000 Administrative staff and officers are engaged in propagating life insurance.
LIC has emerged as a FINACIAL SUPER MARKET with forays into Mutual Fund, Housing Finance and has also gone global though LIC (International) E.C. in the Gulf. LIC also its Branch Offices in the U.K., Fiji and Mauritius.
It has nearly 11crore lives under the protective umbrella of life insurance cover. It is also committed towards providing Social Security to the socially under-privileged. In the financial year ended 31.03.98, LIC sold over 133.11 lakh new insurance policies and generated a Total Premium Income of over Rs.19,252.07 crores .The corporation having closed the last fiscal year with 148.44 lakh new policies amounting to total sum assured of Rs.75316.28 Crore generating First Premium of Rs 2690.59 crore. By 1998 the corporation has built a formidable Life Fund of over Rs.1,05,832.89 crore. This fund is expected to increase substantially with this increase in business.
In this era of enlightened consumerism, LIC has remained alive to the changing customer needs and has been continuously introducing innovative new products to meet new and specific needs and can be proud of having a product line to meet to different need of the consumer. In the recent past, LIC has introduced many products e.g. Jeevan Suraksha- a new personal pension plan, Jeevan Sneha- a flexible money back plan exclusive for women and Jeevan Sanchay- a new attractive money back plan. More attractive new products are on the anvil. In the last fiscal, we introduced two plans viz. Bima Nivesh and Jeevan Asha II. Bima Nivesh provides a single solution for varied financial need of the policyholders and Jeevan Asha II aims at providing for healthy and carefree life.
The organization is committed to customer service and has taken a number of steps to improve its servicing standards steadily. It dedicated to the nation a Citizen' Charter in 1997, outlining its promises to its customers and the public. It has also set up a well-establishment system of grievance redressal system at various levels of its administration. Claims Review committees at the seven Zonal headquarters and at Central office level includes an eminent member from the judiciary (retd.) as an outside representative to provide transparency into our operations of looking into the genuine grievances of claimants. A Consumer Affairs Committee has also been formed to advise the organization on matters of customers interest.
LIC is also alive to the need to adopt new techniques in Information Technology and keep abreast of development to maintain high standards of Customers Service. The corporation is one of the public sector undertaking to become fully prepared for the challenges of the millennium by becoming fully Y2K complaint. Its computer network has been continuously expending and it has also initiated and implemented user friendly Front End System to provide on-line customer service. Such system are already in operation in over 1951 Branches. LIC is also going in for Interactive Voice Response System and Networking of branches gradually. So far, the Metro Area Network and the Inter Active Voice Response System has been commissioned at Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi. This facility will also be provided at other major cities in phases.