LIC assets grow over 9% to cross Rs 31L cr in FY19
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has seen its asset base rise 9.1% to Rs 31.1 lakh crore as on March 31, 2019, compared to Rs 28.5 lakh crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. This is despite total premium income growing only 6% to Rs 3.4 lakh crore in FY19 as compared to Rs 3.2 lakh crore in the previous year.
After considering investment income of Rs 2.2 lakh crore, the gross total income of the corporation grew to Rs 5.6 lakh crore from Rs 5.2 lakh crore — an increase of over 7%. LIC’s assets continue to rise at near double digits every year as total premium income outstrips payouts on account of maturity, death benefits and cancellation.
In FY19, LIC’s premium from new policies sold during the year was Rs 1.42 lakh crore — an increase of 5.7% over the previous year. Total premium income, however, touched the Rs 3.4-lakh-crore figure after including the renewal premium from older policies. As against this, the total payout of policy benefits amounted to Rs 2.5 lakh crore.In a statement issued here, LIC said that its pension and group superannuation business has collected Rs 91,179 crore as new business premium — up 10.1% from Rs 82,808 crore in the previous year’s corresponding period. The Rs 2.5-lakh-crore total policy payouts in FY19 are an increase of 27% from Rs 1.98 lakh crore in the previous year. This includes a payout of Rs 1.36 lakh crore for conventional claims outgo, covering more than 2.5 crore claimants for the year ending March 31, 2019 .One major development during the year was that payment through alternate channels grew 38% to become the main mode with a 60% share. These include premiums coming through LIC customer portal, Paytm, authorised agents, designated banks and collection agencies like common service centres. Premium collection through UPI-BHIM has seen a growth rate of 106%. LIC has also authorised IDBI Bank to collect renewal premium of all policyholders through their 1,800+ branches.
