Page 21 - Insurance Times February 2024

Of this, Rs 23,423 crore was paid out recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,
by public sector companies - mainly according to the latest data released Attention Subscribers
Life Insurance corporation (LIC), the by IRDAI. Please renew your Subscription of The
IRDAI said. It is the first time that there has been Insurance Times Journal to receive
According to the Union Ministry of growth in the number of offices since copy of the journal uninterruptedly.
Health data, there were 5.33 lakh the financial year 2019-20. As per the You can now pay by GPAY, Phonepe,
deaths due to Covid alone since March data, during 2022-23, the presence of Paytm, Amazon, ICICI Pay, BHIM UPI
2020. However, a vast majority of the life insurers rose by nearly 3.5 per
people did not get any insurance cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 1,311
benefit as insurance penetration is very offices from 1,267 offices in 2021-22.
low in the country. Similarly, in Tier-III cities, the growth
Of late, there has been a mild uptick was 2.21 per cent to 1,856 offices.
in Covid cases being reported from The number of offices in these regions
many parts of the country; there are by the private life insurers had
4,091 active Covid cases in India as on consistently fallen from 801 in the
December 29, 2023, according to data 2019-20 period to 706 offices till 2021-
released by the Ministry. 22 before recovering to 749 offices in
As per Swiss Re Sigma Report, the 2022-23 in Tier-II cities. Likewise, in
insurance penetration of the life Tier-III cities, the presence had
insurance sector in India declined from dropped to 458 offices from 500 offices
3.2 per cent in 2021-22 to 3 per cent before jumping back to 496 offices
in 2022-23 and the same for the non- during the period under consideration.
life insurance sector remained at 1 per Meanwhile, for the sole public sector
cent in both these years. As such, company Life Insurance Corporation of
India's overall insurance penetration India (LIC), the growth of offices in the
fell to 4 per cent in 2022-23 from 4.2 Tier-II cities saw a nominal
per cent in 2021-22. improvement to 562 from 561 in 2021-
On the other hand, during 2022-23, 22 and in Tier-III cities it rose from
general and health insurers settled 1,357 to 1,360.
2.36 crore health insurance claims and The focus on financial inclusion, aim to
paid Rs 70,930 crore towards increase insurance penetration,
settlement of health claims as against recovery from Covid-19 pandemic and
Rs 69,498 crore in the previous year. intention to build customer trust has all Sashi Publications Easy Payment
The average amount paid per claim together led to an increase in the Modes :-
was Rs 30,087 in 2022-23 as against Rs number of offices, said Vivek Iyer, i) UPI ID: SASHIBOOKS@KOTAK
31,804 a year ago, according to the partner, Grant Thornton Bharat. ii) GPAY: 9830171022@okbizaxis
IRDAI Annual Report released this iii) PAYTM: 9830171022@paytm
week.
LIC gets board nod for iv) NEFT: Current A/C
Life insurers ramp up branch in GIFT City 402120110000327 of 'SASHI
PUBLICATIONS PRIVATE
presence in Tier-II, Tier-III LIC said its board has approved a LIMITED, Bank of India, VVK
proposal to set up a branch office in
cities GIFT City, Gujarat. LIC's presence in Road Branch., Kolkata, India,
The overall physical presence of life GIFT City will enable the company to IFSC Code : BKID0004021
insurance companies in Tier-II and Tier- expand its global business. At present, v) Credit Card:
III cities increased in FY23 compared to GIFT IFSC is the maiden international www.sashipublications.com
a year ago period on account of the financial services centre in India. Last For any query please call
higher impetus given to financial month, LIC chairman Siddhartha 9073791022/9883398055
inclusion by the government and Mohanty had said "this will enhance www.sashipublications.com
insurance regulator, as well as our foreign operations".

20 February 2024 The Insurance Times