LIC posts 27% growth in first year premium in FY17

LIC's market share in terms of number of policies stood at 76.09%, up from 74.72% last year

Driven by a surge in sale of its single-premium policy and falling interest rates, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has registered a 27.22 per cent growth in first year premium (FYP) in FY17.

Total FYP rose to Rs 1,24,396.27 crore in FY17 from Rs 97,777.47 crore in the previous year. It resulted in the insurance giant increasing its market share to 71.07 per cent from the last year's 70.61 per cent, the state-run corporation said in a statement.

LIC's market share in terms of number of policies stood at 76.09 per cent, up from 74.72 per cent last year. It sold over 20 million new policies in FY17.

Group and Pension Scheme Department received Rs 78,805.56 crore in new business premium, securing 80.96 per cent of the market share in the segment, up from 80.73 per cent last year, it added.

However, the Corporation witnessed de-growth in number policies sold during the year under review.

LIC sold 2.01 crore policies during the fiscal 2017, down from 2.05 crore in the previous financial year, a senior official had told PTI earlier.

The Corporation's single-premium policy under pension segment, Jeevan Akshay, accounts for around 60 per cent of its total premium income. The policy provides assured annual annuity in the range of 7.1-7.2 per cent, he said.

"We did very well in the pension segment and falling interest rates also helped us achieve growth," he added.

LIC has a network of eight zonal offices covering the entire country. For the year 2016-2017 all the zones achieved their targets in first premium income, the statement said.