LIC targets double-digit growth

New Delhi: Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has lined up 3-4 product launches in the coming months with a view to achieve double-digit growth in new business premium in the current financial year. "We are projecting double-digit growth over the last year. We are going to achieve that because a recent trend is showing uptick in individual retail business. In order to further reinforce our commitment, we are going to launch some new attractive products," LIC Chairman Siddhartha Mohanty said in an interview. LIC is going to launch one product in the first week of December, he said, hoping that it will attract a lot of traction in the market.

Sharing some features of the new product, Mohanty said it will provide assured returns and after maturity, the policyholder will get 10 per cent of the sum assured life long. He exuded confidence that the new product will create disruption in the market as everybody wants to know how much he or she is paying and the returns one would get after 20-25 years. In addition, he said, loan facility and premature withdrawal would also be a feature of the new product. Guaranteed return products are in the interest of policyholders and shareholders, he said, adding that many shareholders are also policyholders.

"So, it is dual benefit for policyholders," he added. Mohanty said 2-3 more policies will be launched during the course of the year to achieve double-digit growth in new business premium. During the first half of the current financial year, LIC's new business premium income (individual) segment registered 2.65 per cent growth to Rs 25,184 crore as against Rs 24,535 crore in the year-ago period.