Page 18 - Insurance Times September 2020

products which has higher capital re- demic is only to the tune of Rs 500 sis. LIC Housing Finance said its overall
quirements," he added. crore. "This is just a fraction of the borrowing power is Rs. 3 lakh crore
total premium income (new and re- and the proposed fund-raise plan is
However, he added that LIC has a
healthy solvency margin of 155%. newal) of the company," he added. within the limit. The proposal will be
taken up at its annual general meet-
Non-guaranteed products like ULIPs Replying to a question on the invest- ing on September 28 for approval from
are less capital intensive with lower ment of LIC in stock market during this shareholders.
solvency requirements in the absence pandemic, he added that it has already
of guaranteed returns. On the con- booked profit of Rs 13,000 crore from
trary conventional plans had assured the stock market during this fiscal and LIC to invest Rs. 2L cr in
returns with higher solvency require- it is one of the few net investors in the Bonds, Stocks through rest
ments. stock market.
of FY 21
Commenting on Covid death claims, he LIC Housing raise Rs.
added that LIC has so far settled 911 LIC will likely invest an estimated Rs. 2
Covid death claims with a sum of Rs 42 50,500 crore lakh crore in bonds and equities
crore. "This is minuscule compared to LIC Housing Finance said it would seek through the rest of FY 21 as it expects
total claims we settle every year," he shareholders' approval in the upcom- demand for protection and cover age
added. ing annual general meeting this month to increase in the aftermath of the
The LIC MD also pointed out that the to raise up to Rs. 50,500 crore by issu- pandemic, thus raising premium collec-
moratorium sought by the customers ing debt securities or other hybrid in- tions. It has already invested a similar
on premium payment so far for pan- struments on a private placement ba- quantum since April 1. T

34% of road crash victims had no income, finds study

The hospitalisation samples of road crash victims from 54 hospitals across 20 cities show that 34% of them had no
income and another 28% had monthly earnings between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000. This data collected during a study
to work out the socio-economic cost of road accidents for the road transport ministry has revealed how it’s the poor
who are the worst impacted in road crashes.
The data show that barely 3% of the crash victims had monthly earnings of more than Rs 50,000. It was also found
that nearly 59% of the accident victims who were hospitalised were two wheeler riders and another 15.5% were
pedestrians. Pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and cyclists are categorised as the most vulnerable road users (VRUs)
across the globe considering that they hardly have any protection in case of a crash and hence there is a high chance
of these road users getting killed in such incidents.
Sources said about 6,600 samples were collected from 31 government and 21 private hospitals. Nearly 10.7% of the
accident victims admitted in hospitals were car, SUV and taxi occupants.

The study conducted by a consortium of TRIPP of IIT (Delhi) and DIMTS also collected 6,400 FIRs spanning over two
years from police stations across 14 cities. It found that in 7% cases, the crashes were fatal and in 66% cases the
victims were left with grievous injuries. The analysis of the FIRs also brought to light that nearly 40% victims were two
wheeler riders and about 39% victims were pedestrians. The share of car, SUV and taxi occupants was around 8.8%.
The age-wise distribution of data showed that about 67% of the victims were in the age bracket of 18 to 45 years,
which is the most productive age group.

The report submitted to the ministry, which is yet to be made public, has concluded that since more than three fourth
of the road crash victims are the two-wheeler riders and pedestrians, there is an urgent need to address the vulner-
ability of these road users by taking measures with regard to improving enforcement, infrastructure and healthcare
services.
In a report on Impacts of Road Accidents in Asia and the Pacific by the Asian Development Bank in 2012 had found
that seven out of every 10 of road crash victims' families suffered decreased income due to accidents and two-third
of victims' families ended up taking loans to cover income loss during the previous five years.

The Insurance Times, September 2020 15