LIC settles 99.92% of death claim cases, sets record high

LIC is keen to push the boundary further, looking to settle 99% claims on a monthly basis in future

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has pulled off a record claim performance by settling 99.92 per cent of death claims in 2016-17 as against industry average of 95 per cent.

The insurance behemoth is keen to push the boundary further, looking to settle 99 per cent claims on a monthly basis too in future.

"LIC has settled 99.92 per cent of death claims in 2016- 17, which is undoubtedly one of the best performances not only in the country but in the world," an LIC source told PTI.

According to industry body Life Insurance Council, there are a total of 24 players, including LIC, active in the life insurance space and the industry average of death claim settlement stands at around 95 per cent.

"One of the fundamental reasons for the strong brand of LIC is our service delivery and... our claim settlement operations in particular," the source said, adding that "we would expect that not only we continue to focus on this area, but further strengthen it by settling 99 per cent claims on month on month basis".

Till date, LIC has had nearly 11 lakh such cases outstanding and expects that each and every case needs to be followed up to its logical end.

According to the source, the customer relationship management (CRM) department of LIC has been asked to ensure claim particular sheet is prepared for every outstanding case and regular monitoring is done.

LIC, the source said, is making further efforts in the CRM space, where the corporation would like to see visible and perceptible changes in the quality of response to customers, turnaround time in attending to customer complaints or queries, courteous attitude and business etiquette of officials dealing with customers.

According to the source, prompt handling of queries by the SMS-based helpline has brought down the number of complaints drastically and it would revive the helpdesk in each branch so that customer is attended to promptly.

"Further, to provide instant service, we need to ensure our customers are empowered to use e-services. Their mobile numbers, e-mails and NEFT details are registered as early as possible to provide instant services," the source added.

As for information technology, LIC's immediate focus is to ensure comprehensive cyber security for data, software as well as hardware. This is all the more relevant in the wake of the Wannacry malware attack that hit computers across the globe.

The corporation may go for a net addition of 69,000 agents, potentially taking its agency strength to 11,31,181 at the end of March 2017.