After a gap of two years, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has raised bonus by up to 15 per cent for 2010-11.
The country’s largest life insurer, which reported a 10.3 per cent rise in net actuarial surplus at Rs 22,716 crore for 2010-11, compared to Rs 20,586 crore in the previous year, allocated Rs 21,580 crore for paying annual bonus to policyholders.
“The bonus rates have gone up after a gap of two years. We will be providing higher bonus rates under seven plans like Jeevan Anand, Jeevan Tarang, Jeevan Madhur, Child Future Plan, Jeevan Shree I, Jeevan Bharti I and Jeevan Pramukh. This apart, we have also brought in seven other plans under loyalty additions,” a LIC spokesperson told reporters.
In the traditional plans category, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of its incremental sales, the insurer will launch cheaper products, in line with the rates offered by private insurance companies. “Currently, our traditional plans are costlier than offered by the competition. So, we will come out with plans with competitive rates,” he said.
In 2010-11, LIC collected Rs 86,444.7 crore by selling new policies, 22 per cent more than Rs 70,891.5 crore garnered in the previous corresponding period. Total investment in debt and equities stood at Rs 2,00,000 crore and the solvency margins improved to 154.07 per cent from 153.96 per cent.