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Refuting rumours on social media, state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, on Wednesday, underlined its strong financial position and said it has regained market share at nearly 73 per cent by August.
LIC’s market share for policies as on August 31 is 72.84 per cent and for first-year premium is 73.06 per cent, the insurer said in a statement. The market share in first-year premium has increased over the last six months when it was 66.24 per cent in March 31.
According to IRDAI data, LIC had collected ₹77,220.97 crore in premium between April and August this year, registering a 46.52 per cent growth on an annual basis. In contrast, the market share of private sector life insurers has come down to 26.9 per cent in the first five months of the fiscal year.
It is pertinent to note that the market share based on total premium income had fallen for LIC in 2017-18 to less than 70 per cent, and also remained muted last fiscal with private insurers becoming more aggressive in terms of sales.
“On the basis of total premium income, the market shares of LIC decreased from 71.81 per cent in 2016-17 to 69.36 per cent in 2017-18,” said the annual report of the IRDAI. In contrast, the market share of private insurers had risen to 30.64 per cent in 2017-18 from 28.19 per cent in 2016-17.
However, in terms of the number of policies sold, LIC registered a 3.06 per cent drop to 67.96 lakh by August this fiscal against 70.1 lakh in the same period a year ago. Private sector insurers continued to witness growth in the number of policies sold.
Denying rumours and fake news about its financial health, LIC also said that it has declared the highest-ever bonus of over ₹50,000 crore to its policyholders last fiscal.
“The messages wrongly speculate about LIC’s financial health and attempt to portray the largest life insurer in poor light in the eyes of its stakeholders. These news are factually incorrect, uncorroborated, and intend to tarnish the image of LIC brand and also create panic in the minds of its policyholders,” the life insurance behemoth said, urging policyholders not to take cognizance of such news.
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