SCALING MILESTONES WITH CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE
Life Insurance not only provides protection against financial loss in the event of the death of the life assured, but can also help to create an estate for the family. M R Kumar, Zonal Manager, LIC of India, Northern Zone talks about corporation’s achievements and more...
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the state-owned life insurer, provides several niche products for individuals according to their diversified financial needs with risk cover.
LIC has traversed many milestones since its inception in 1956 and has set unprecedented performance records in several aspects of life insurance business. LIC continues to be the leader even in the competitive era of privatisation of the life insurance industry and is moving fast on a new growth path, surpassing its own records.
LIC has grown from strength to strength, be it in customer base, agency network, branch office network, new business premium and has played a significant role in spreading life insurance widely across the country. LIC has a strong asset base of 28.45 lakh crore with a total life fund of Rs 25.85 lakh crore.
Could you briefly sum up LIC North Zone’s Journey this year?
North Zone achieved annual budget of Total First Premium for the last FY on March 14, 2018 itself. After a gap of many years, North Zone also achieved annual budget on three counts i.e. total first premium, single premium and non-single premium in FY 2017-18. Out of 320 branches of North Zone, 286 achieved their annual First Premium Budget in FY 2017-18.
North Zone has procured 15.21 lakh policies with Rs 2,652.38 crore first year premium upto November 15, 2018. North Zone has achieved No.1 position in whole India by recruiting 15,302 agents this year. North Zone had also achieved first position in the country among other zones by recruiting 30,175 agents in 2017-18 giving boost to employment opportunities for the entrepreneurial youths. North Zone also has a good number of high potential agents, which includes 632 MDRT agents, 20 Corporate Club agents, 88 Galaxy Club agents, 5,609 Chairman Club agents and 3,974 Zonal Manager Club agents.
What are the products you are currently offering to the public at large?
Our mantra is 'Be Insured Be Assured'. We have 30 plans i.e. Endowment Plan, Jeevan Nidhi
Plan, Bima Bachat Plan,
Money Back 20 Yrs or 25 Yrs, Children Money Back Plan,
Term Plan, Aadhaar Stambh for Male Lives, Aadhaar Shila for Female Lives, Jeevan Shiromani, LIC’s Bima Shree,
Annuity Plans - Jeevan Shanti and Jeevan Akshay and Health
Plans - Jeevan Arogya / Cancer Cover Plans, Micro Insurance Plan - Bhagya Lakshmi and Jeevan Mangal Plans, which satisfy the diversified needs of every class of customers i.e. from low income group to high income group and children to senior citizens. We are going to settle the maturity of Jeevan Astha Plan from November 18, 2018 vide which customers will get more than double of their invested premium in 10 years.
LIC’s Cancer Cover plan is the most sought after product by customers as this is a fixed benefit plan in case of any specified stages of cancer during policy term. At present, there are 25 lakh cancer patients in India, seven lakh cancer patients are registered every year and 5,56,400 cancer related deaths have occurred during last FY. Approximately Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh is spent by an individual during six months of cancer treatment.
What are the opportunities and challenges for LIC North Zone?
The opportunities and challenges of LIC in North Zone are manifold. While we have scope of tapping higher net worth clients in the metro centres, such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, we also have the opportunity to reach out to our remote rural clients in the hills of Ladakh (J&K) as well as the remote border areas of Rajasthan, such as Bikaner and Jodhpur. A huge diverse market is the best opportunity and by focussing on recruitment and training of millennial agents, we are trying to reach the Millennials, techsavvy customers to get insurance cover with Brand LIC as we believe that millennials will decide the shape and direction of all consumables and financial products in the days to come, whether they are the buyers or the sellers.
What are career opportunities available in LIC?
1) Agency as a career is a huge opportunity where the potential for growth is immense as there is a vast insurable population to be tapped and there is no saturation in the Life Insurance market.
2) As Development Officers, LIC is providing another opportunity for young graduates to join as team leaders to develop their areas of operation from the point of view of increasing insurance penetration.
Since the average lifespan has increased which has resulted into huge number of 'Pension Seekers', do you have any pension product to safeguard future?
Yes. We have recently launched a very unique and innovative plan Jeevan Shanti on September 11, 2018, which is a single premium annuity plan with death benefit (return of 110% of purchase price on death), which can be taken for either self or on joint lives i.e. between any lineal descendant of the family. Any person who is 30 years of age and above can purchase this policy. The uniqueness about this plan is that it is a niche product for both young and old people.
What are the USPs of Jeevan Shanti plan?
The main USP is that it offers immediate annuity from the inception of the policy and deferred annuity facility after a specified period as desired by the policyholder. It gives regular lifelong regular income with stable guaranteed annuity rates and guaranteed additions during the deferment period. There are 12 attractive pension options. Loan facility is available after completion of one year of the policy. Since the premium paid and the annuities are fixed, there are no apprehensions about the fluctuating rate of interest. So, anyone who purchases this plan will enjoy 'Jeevan bhar ki shanti' – mental peace and financial stability for life. LIC has sold around 75,000 Jeevan Shanti policies across the country.
How has North Zone contributed in helping LIC to scale new heights?
• Balanced business model of single premium and non-single premium.
• Recruitment of millennial agents and pursuing the target of enrolling one lakh Entrepreneur Youth as our financial advisors.
• Prompt claim settlement. Moment of truth for our customer is our prime concern and we are empowering our employees to provide seamless services to our customers.