Page 18 - Insurance Times April 2024

LIC pays Rs. 2,441 crore Unclaimed funds higher in LIC's group premium
interim dividend to agent-sold life policies doubles in February

government The unclaimed funds within the life Insurance behemoth Life
insurance sector are higher from
The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala policies sold by agents as against other Insurance Corporation's (LIC)
Sitharaman, received a dividend channels like bancassurance or a digital group premium doubled for
cheque of Rs 2,441.44 crore from the February 2024 to Rs. 14,914.98
platform, said analysts and officials
Life Insurance Corporation of India from insurance companies. crore (Rs. 7,433.27 crore).
(LIC). The cheque was presented by
Unclaimed life insurance funds refer to Total premium for the month
LIC's Chairperson, Siddharth Mohanty. under review grew 67.48 percent
The news of this transaction was the proceeds of insurance policies
including death or survival benefits not to Rs. 19,896.01 crore (Rs.
announced by LIC through their official 11,879.49 crore), latest data
Twitter handle, ensuring that investors claimed by the beneficiary or the
and users were informed about the policyholder. Bancassurance means showed.
selling an insurance product through
dividend payout. LIC for the month under review
banks. saw a notable rise in group yearly
The Finance Minister accepted the
"The insurance companies can easily renewable premium and individual
dividend cheque in the presence of verify the bank details with the bank for
Financial Services Secretary, Vivek premium, registering an increase
bancassurance customers and also get in value terms of 36.10 per cent
Joshi. It is worth mentioning that last
new bank account, contact details and and 11.69 per cent respectively.
year, the government, as an investor address from the bank based on
in LIC, also received a dividend cheque Individual premium collected for
Permanent Account Number (PAN)
of Rs 1831 crore. first 11 months of fiscal 2024 was
numbers. The updating of customer
Dividends are a portion of a mobile and email in policies sourced Rs. 48,548.24 crore, up 0.55 per
company's profits that are distributed through digital channels also helps to cent over Rs. 48,283.13 crore
to its shareholders. For instance, if a instantly connect with customers to get collected in the corresponding
company declares a dividend of Rs 5 bank details during payout," said period last year.
per share and an individual holds 1000 Vighnesh Shahane, MD & CEO, Ageas In February 2024, LIC's policies and
shares, they would receive Rs 5000 as Federal Life Insurance. schemes for the individual
dividend income. "In the case of agency channels, the category reached a total of
According to a report from CNBC TV attrition makes it difficult to connect 17,15,467 showing an increase of
18, the government's stake in LIC, with customers once the agent leaves 6.34 percent compared to
which is the largest insurance the company," Shahane added. 16,13,178 policies and schemes
company in India, amounts to Rs 1.2 recorded in the same month of the
lakh crore. LIC shares have Life insurers see 48% rise previous year.
experienced a 9 per cent increase in in new biz premium
For the group's yearly renewable
the last month, providing investors Life insurers reported 48 per cent year- premium segment, the number of
with over 70 per cent returns within on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business policies and schemes in February
a year. premium (NBP) in February on the back 2024 stood at 2,639 marking a
Market experts attribute LIC's strong of the strong increase shown by Life 10.93 per cent increase from
performance to its positive market Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), 2,379 policies and schemes
reception of the December quarter coupled with robust performance by reported in February 2023.
results for the fiscal year 2023-24. private insurers.
The total number of policies in
Omkar Kamtekar, a Research Analyst According to the data released by Life February 2024, across all
at Bonanza Portfolio, observed, "LIC's Insurance Council, the NBP of life categories, experienced a 6.34 per
net profit increased by 49 per cent in insurance companies came in at Rs
the third quarter results presented in 33,913.18 crore, 48.43 per cent higher cent increase, reaching a total of
17,18,560 policies (16,16,048
February, leading to a positive market than the Rs 22,847.65 crore in the year-
reaction." ago period. policies).

The Insurance Times April 2024 17