Life Insurance Business

Profile of Existing Life Insurance Business in India
Life Insurance business was nationalised and LIC came into existence on 1st September, 1956 with its Corporate Office at Mumbai, amalgamating 245 existing Indian and foreign companies. Some of the objectives are :

To spread Life Insurance;
To maximise mobilisation of people's savings;
To meet the various life insurance needs of the country

A portfolio of 54.17 lacs policies in India and 2.69 lacs policies outside India with a total Sum Assured of Rs. 1474 crores was undertaken by LIC for servicing. But at the end of 1997-98, the total number of policies in force in LIC's Book is 850.36 lacs with a Sum Assured of Rs. 4,00,748 crores.LIC has grown by leaps and bounds during these 43 years and in 1998-99 alone 148.44 lacs of new policies with a Sum Assured of Rs. 75,316.28 crores were sold.
LIC registered a mammoth all round growth and is a giant in Life insurance business with its diversified products. LIC is present throughout the country through its 2048 Branch Offices, 100 Divisional Offices and 7 Zonal Offices. In fact LIC offices are spread in every nook and corner of the North East, at Anantanag, Poonch, Doda in North, in the West at Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, In South at Tuticorin, Tiruvannamala and even at Andaman Nicobar island.
The extra-ordinary growth of LIC was possible because it tried to spread the message of "INSURANCE" not only to the urban area of the country but also has given special thrust on rural life insurance and especially to female segment of the population.
Our Strength is our Field Force
We reach our products to our customers through our massive field force. As on 31.3.99 LIC had 6,27,684 agents on roll working under the supervision of 18,111 Development Officers. These agents are being trained through 23 Sales Training Centers.Besides we sponsor our agents to some of the external institutes like (i) IFSERT (ii) CIFP (iii) JVT (iv) CIS (v) LCIMFP etc. spreading over the different parts of the country. To make the agency force professional, RURAL and URBAN CAREER agents are being recruited by LIC. These agents are provided with fixed stipends in addition to the commissions derived from the business procured by these forces.
Apart from LIC, the Life Insurance business has also been undertaken by Unit Trust of India through its "ULIP" policies and Post Offices through "POSTAL LIFE INSURANCE" but they have not been able to make any remarkable dent in the life insurance market.
Thrust on Rural and Female Insurance
The proportion of the Female workers is on the rise year after year due to changes in the socio-economic background. While formulating budget for 1999-2000, 15% and 14% of our Policies and Sum Assured respectively have been targeted respectively have been targeted from FEMALE LIVES.
In view of this rising trend of the women workers, LIC has launched JEEVAN SNEHA policy exclusively for WOMEN besides other conventional policies. Also we have liberalised the underwriting criteria for female lives. Women with earned income are now considered at par with their male counter part.
Another important thrust area is "RURAL INSURANCE" - sustained and constant efforts are made to carry the message of life insurance into the rural masses, specially in the backward and remote areas.As a result, there has been steady all round growth in the industry. The share of industry's Rural business in 1998-99 50.2% and 45.2% in Policies and Sum Assured respectively.
Need Based Products Formulated
All the products can be broadly grouped in four need levels viz., :

Need Level. 1: Security for family in case of death, Requirement of lump sum for social Obligations(e.g. Whole Life, Endowment, Jeevan Mitra, Jeevan Sathi,Jeevan Sanchay Money Back, Bima Kiran etc.)
Need Level. 2 : Security for Children (CDA,Jeevan Balya, Jeevan Kishore, Jeevan Sukanya, Children Money Back etc.)
Need Level. 3 : Security after active working life(Immediate Annuity,Deferred Annuity, Jeevan Dhara, Jeevan Suraksha, Jeevan Akshay etc.)
Need Level. 4 Special Needs (Bhavishya Jeevan, Jeevan Shree, Asha Deep-II, Jeevan Griha, J/Asha-II)

Life insurance products are designed keeping in view the demographic structure of the country. It is known that infant mortality rate is decreasing and life expectancy is increasing and country's "greying" population ( above 60 years) has been forecast as 8.07% in 2005, 8.30% in 2007. The Data indicates that our thrust areas should be NEED LEVEL 2 (Children Money Back, Jeevan Sukanya ). and NEED LEVEL 3 (Pension Policy like Jeevan Suraksha) During 1998-99 the number of Jeevan Suraksha policies sold was 98,567 and our target for current financial year of all pension plans is 2,00,000 policies of which the JEEVAN SURAKSHA has the largest share.
Also for the young generation who are at the beginning of their career for them low premium, high risk policy BIMA KIRAN.
For high income bracket customers LIC has designed exclusively policy - JEEVAN SHREE.
For the handicapped children LIC introduced JEEVAN ADHAR policy.
Short Term Investment plan like BIMA NIVESH.
Now the contingency is not only death, the contingency arising due to ILL HEALTH is also taken care by LIC.We have Health Care policies like ASHA DEEP-II and JEEVAN ASHA-II.
Any life insurance budgeting is based on the INSURANCE POPULATION. Our target group consists of "Main Workers between age 15 and 49 years'. Based on this as on 31.3.98 we have covered 22.36% of the potential. Thus we have a stupendous task ahead of covering the remaining 77%.To meet the present day challenges, LIC has adopted a target of doubling its coverage in 5 years i.e. a yearly growth of about 20%.
In our prescribed definition of"INSURABLE POPULATION' we are not covering the mass without substantial and regular income. But to spread the message of life insurance they are being covered under various social security schemes like LALGI (1.2 crores land less Agricultural Labourers derived the benefit of life insurance), Social Security Scheme for IRDP (covering 1.23 crores lives), RGLIS (launched on 15.8.95 and during 1998-99 coverage was given to 6435 lives under its General Scheme and 2,89,329 lives under the subsidised scheme )etc. Through the social security fund set up by Government of India in 1988,LIC subsidised premium in respect of various social security group schemes covering 24 approved occupations amongst the weaker sections of which 49.00 lacs people were enjoying subsidised cover as at 31.3.99. On 18.10.97, a social security group insurance scheme was introduced by LIC exclusively for WOMEN in remote hill areas.
People's Money for People's Welfare :
The total premium income and Total Income of LIC is increasing, which gives a boost to our LIFE FUND, it has reached to all time record of Rs. 1,27,389.06 crores as on 31st March, 1999.
Responding to the Customers Sensitivity
LIC has come out with "CITIZENS' CHARTER' redeeming its commitments to the valued clientele. On 7.11.97 "CITIZENS' CHARTER' was launched by the then Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram. In this charter LIC has spelt out its commitments to Society, Customers, Work force.
Measures adopted by LIC for better servicing

Providing quick and satisfactory services to the customers
Upgradation of Technology-Front End Application Packages
Metro Area Net Working
Inter Active Voice Responding Systems(IVRS)
Reduction in Time Lag
Inclusion of retired H C Judge in Claims Review Committee at Z O
Monday Grievance Redressal Cell
Special Revival Campaign every year
LIC International E C at Bahrain for Indian expatriates in Gulf Countries issuing policies inn US dollars, Indian rupees and other Local currencies

Conclusion
The Life Insurance Corporation of India, over the years, has emerged from being just a life insurance organisation into what can be termed as a multi-dimensional organisation today with forays into mutual funds, housing finance as well as the international market in the Gulf through its subsidiaries viz., LIC Mutual Fund, LIC Housing Finance Limited and LIC (International) E C. All these subsidiaries have emerged as independent and strong entities, ample proof of LIC's growing managerial capabilities in the financial sector.