LIC Witnesses Loss On Non-Single Premium Policy Share

Albeit the Life Insurance Corporation of India spruced up its market share to 74 per cent in terms of total new business premium policies in March 2007, compared with 72 per cent in March 2006, it has lost market share in new individual non-single premium policies. For March 2007, LIC''s market share in new individual non-single premium policies was 63 per cent, down from the November 2006 peak of 71 per cent, according to a research paper by Brics Securities. The paper says that the slackness in LIC''s growth should be seen in conjunction with its single premium growth. A significant portion of LIC''s premium income is coming from single premium policies; 46 per cent of the total premium in FY07 against 31 per cent and 40 per cent in FY05 and FY06, respectively. However, even on an adjusted basis, the annualised premium equivalent (APE) growth of LIC at 88 per cent was below the private sector APE growth of 99 per cent.