Employees and agents of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), India’s leading public insurance company, have vehemently opposed the Union government’s move to hike Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to 49 per cent in the sector.
At the 58th formation day celebrations held on the premises of Branch-1 at Arundelpet, LIC branch manager B.R Kishore Singh, employees’ union divisional secretary V.V.K. Suresh said that the NDA government was keen on introducing the Insurance Bill in the winter session of Parliament and vowed to build a public opinion against the move.
Employees’ unions will hold demonstrations and public discussions on the ‘ill-effects’ of the FDI hike in insurance sector, they said, claiming that the move would be counterproductive to people’s interests.
“The LIC, which has managed to withstand the onslaught of private insurance companies, is still the market leader with a share of 75 per cent. The LIC has added 3.45 crore policies during 2013-2014 financial year and netted a premium income of Rs.90,123.75 crore,” Mr. Singh pointed out. The LIC has an outstanding record of achieving 99.68 per cent of maturity claims and 99.30 per cent of death claims. The total life fund of the LIC as on March 31 stands at Rs.16.07 lakh crore while the worth of its total assets is Rs.17.69 lakh crore, he said.
As part of the celebrations, past district governor of Rotary International District 3150 and council member of divisional policy holders, Ravi Vadlamani, inaugurated a special service counter for the policy holders. The LIC also introduced a new plan- Jeevan Shagun, which assures 10 times the annual premium in the case of death of the policy holder.
LIC divisional officer K. S. Ramesh was also present.
