Women Agents On Top At Lic

Women agents have been hogging the limelight in the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) this year so far.

Mamta Bhatnagar sold the highest number of policies -- 1,820 -- in the eight-month period ended November 30, 2001. Ritu Nanda topped the scene yet again this fiscal, mopping up the highest first premium income of Rs 4.48 crore among the agents. The highest sum assured mobilised by a single agent was Rs 30.97 crore, again by a woman agent M R Gupta.

It seems that the exodus at LIC has not affected the performance of its development officers, agents, branches and divisions. More than four LIC agents sold over 1,000 policies each in April-November.

 

West Bengal topped the performance scale during the period April 1 to December 15, 2001, as the Howrah division sold the highest number of policies, 2.74 lakh, and also mopped up the highest first premium income of Rs 64.44 crore, and scored the maximum in sum assured at Rs 1,623.14 crore.

Development officer (DO) Amit Debrath of Howrah division, West Bengal, sold the maximum number of policies at 5,561.

In terms of sum assured, the highest amount was mopped up by DO R D Pandey of Mumbai to the tune of Rs 50.21 crore. And DO H P Singh collected the highest first premium income of Rs 5.34 crore.

Said LIC managing director N C Sharma: "LIC's marketing force is now better equipped in terms of knowledge and training, and they are becoming more aggressive in a non-protective environment".

Sharma admitted the need to come out with some scheme to retain the workforce at the senior and middle management cadre. "Hike in salary is not possible as there is a reference to the government. LIC salaries are at par with banks. We need to come out with schemes that are not related to salaries," he added.

While agents, DOs, branches and divisions have benefited from the large volumes through monthly and quarterly competitions to motivate the workforce, some kind of performance-linked incentives have to be defined "to protect the actuarial staff as well," said Sharma.