LIC eyes new record, settles 1.46 claims/sec

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) could well feature in 'Ripley's Believe it or not'.

The life insurer settles 1.46 claims every second and settles nearly 33,000 claims every working day. The corporation also hands out over Rs 57.36 crore per day to policyholders.

LIC is the world's largest issuer of policies, with 15 crore policies in force and selling 2.45 crore policies annually. Though comparative international data is not readily available, international rating agency Dun & Bradstreet stated in "India's Top 500 Companies 2003" study that the life insurer is the numero uno insurer in the world in terms of claims settlement.

LIC's track record in settlement of claims has resulted in its possibly having the lowest outstanding claims ratio of 0.22 per cent as compared to other domestic and foreign insurers' whose outstanding claims ratio well exceeds one per cent.

In 2002-03, LIC settled 97.48 lakh for almost Rs 17,000 crore. Of this, the corporation settled over 95 lakh individual claims and 2.14 group insurance claims.

Almost 90 per cent of all claims are settled on or before the date of maturity. "Our aim is to be ahead of competition and evolve in the competitive era as the people's insurer of choice," said senior LIC officials.

According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the new players are unable to come even close to LIC in the settlement of claims. As on March 31, 2003, some private insurers had a claim ratio of 67 per cent, while others had a lower ratio of three per cent.

However, none compared to LIC's 0.22 per cent. This is even as LIC had sizeable amounts to be settled running into crores, while private insurers' claims ran into lakhs.