Introduction

With over a billion people, India is fast becoming a global economic power. With a relatively
youthful population, India will become an attractive insurance market over the next decades.
This paper examines the Indian insurance industry. It highlights the importance of the rural
sector – where the majority of the Indians still live. It shows how the recent privatization is
playing out in the market. Based on recent economic estimates, the paper provides
projections of segments of the market for 2025.
India is among the important emerging insurance markets in the world. Life insurance will
grow very rapidly over the next decades in India. The major drivers include sound economic
fundamentals, a rising middle-income class, an improving regulatory framework and rising
risk awareness. The fundamental regulatory changes in the insurance sector in 1999 will be
critical for future growth. Despite the restriction of 26% on foreign ownership, large foreign
insurers have entered the Indian market. State-owned insurance companies still have
dominant market positions. But, this would probably change over the next decade. In the life
sector, new private insurers are bringing in new products to the market. They also have used
innovative distribution channels to reach a broader range of the population. There is huge in
the largely undeveloped private pension market. The same is true for the health insurance
business. The Indian general insurance segment is still heavily regulated. Three quarters of
premiums are generated under the tariff system. Reinsurance in India is mainly provided by
the General Insurance Corporation of India, which receives 20% compulsory cessions from
other general insurers. Finally, the rural sector has potential for both life and general
insurance. To realize this potential, designing suitable products is important. Insurers will
need to pay special attention to the characteristics of the rural labor force, like the prevalence
of irregular income streams and preference for simple products.
Question 1: Discuss the evolution of the Indian
insurance industry over the decades and critically
comment on LIC's products and pricing practices. Why
do you think the average Indian insurance customer has
largely been a buyer of money back and endowment
policies?

 Evolution of the insurance sector

India had the nineteenth largest insurance market in the world in 2003. Strong economic
growth in the last decade combined with a population of over a billion makes it one of the
potentially largest markets in the future. Insurance in India has gone through two radical
transformations. Before 1956, insurance was private with minimal government intervention.
In 1956, life insurance was nationalized and a monopoly was created. In 1972, general
insurance was nationalized as well. As a part of the general opening up of the economy after
1992, a Government appointed committee recommended that private companies should be
allowed to operate. It took six years to implement the recommendation. Private sector was
allowed into insurance business in 2000. However, foreign ownership was restricted. No
more than 26% of any company can be foreign-owned.

➢ Insurance in the Colonial Era.

Life insurance in the modern form was first set up in India through a British company called
the Oriental Life Insurance Company in 1818 followed by the Bombay Assurance Company
in 1823 and the Madras Equitable Life Insurance Society in 1829. All of these companies
operated in India but did not insure the lives of Indians. They were insuring the lives of
Europeans living in India. The first general insurance company, Triton Insurance Company
Ltd., was established in 1850. It was owned and operated by the British. The first indigenous
general insurance company was the Indian Mercantile Insurance Company Limited set up in
Bombay in 1907.

In 1912, two sets of legislation were passed: the Indian Life Assurance Companies Act and
the Provident Insurance Societies Act. First, they were the first legislations in India that
particularly targeted the insurance sector. Second, they left general insurance business out of
it. In 1938, the Insurance Act was passed which covered both life and general insurance
companies.
 ➢ Evolution of Insurance during Nationalized Era: 1956-
2000
Before 1956, insurance was private with minimal government intervention. In 1956, life
insurance was nationalized and a monopoly was created. In 1972, general insurance was
nationalized as well. There were 107 general insurance companies operating at the time. The
reason for this was that insurance is a “cooperative enterprise,” under a socialist form of
government; therefore, it is more suited for government to be in insurance business on behalf
of the “people”. Second, those Indian companies are excessively expensive. Third, argued
that private competition has not improved services to the “public” or to the policyholders.

➢ Life Insurance Business during the Nationalized Era.

Indian life insurance was nationalized in 1956. An Ordinance was issued on 19th January,
1956 nationalising the Life Insurance sector and Life Insurance Corporation came into
existence in the same year. The LIC absorbed 154 Indian, 16 non-Indian insurers as also 75
provident societies—245 Indian and foreign insurers in all. The LIC had monopoly till the
late 90s when the Insurance sector was reopened to the private sector. All life companies
were merged together to form one single company: the Life Insurance Corporation. By 2000,
Life Insurance Corporation had 100 divisional offices in seven zones with 2048 branches.
There were over 680,000 active agents across India with a total of 117,000 employees in the
Life Insurance Corporation employed directly.

After the report of the Malhotra Committee came out, changes in the insurance industry
appeared imminent. On December 7, 1999, the new government passed the Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority Act. Starting in early 2000, the Insurance Regulatory
and Development Authority started granting charters to private life and general insurance
companies. By the end of 2003, there were thirteen life insurance companies had charters to
operate, one public (the old monopoly) and twelve private companies. All of the private
companies had foreign partners in life business. Almost all general insurance companies also
have foreign partners.

 LIC PRODUCTS AND PRICING POLICIES

The largest segment of the life insurance market in India has been individual life insurance.
The types of the policies sold were mainly whole life, endowment and “money back”
policies. Money back policies return a fraction of the nominal value of the premium paid by
the policyholder at the termination of the contract. Thus, whether we examine the new
policies sold or the total number of policies in force, there has been a tenfold increase during
that period. Therefore, if we examine the headcount of policies as an indication of
penetration, there has been a substantial rise. A part of this rise is directly attributable to a
deliberate policy of rural expansion of the Life Insurance Corporation.

WHAT IS ENDOWMENT POLICY

Endowment insurance are policies that cover the risk for a specified period and at the end the
sum assured is paid back to the policyholder along with all the bonus accumulated during the
term of the policy.
The Endowment insurance policies work in two ways, one they provide life
insurance cover and on the other hand as a vehicle for saving.
They are more expensive than Term policies and Whole life policies.
Normally the bonus in calculated on the sum insured but the only drawback is
that the bonuses are not compounded.
Endowment insurance plans are best for people who do not have a saving and an investing
habit on a regular basis. Endowment Insurance Plans can be bought for a shorter duration
period.
LIC-ENDOWMENT POLICIES
Jivan Mitra-Double cover Endowment Plan
Jivan Mitra-Triple Cover Endowment Plan
Jivan Anand Plan
New Janraksha Plan
Product Benefits include: Death Benefit, Maturity Benefit, Extra/Supplementary Benefit.
These benefits are offered by LIC in the wake of increased competition, though not many
benefits were offered before.
The Plan Parameters
 Age at entry: 35 years
 Policy Term: 20 Years
 Mode of premium payment: Yearly
 Sum Assured: Rs. 1,00,000 /-
 Annual Premium: the rate of annual premium to be paid was very low when LIC was
the sole insurer. But in the present scenario LIC has to offer higher premium rates so
as to stay in competition.
WHAT IS TERM INSURANCE PLAN
Term Insurance is a no frills life insurance plans and covers you for a term of one or more
years. It pays a death benefit only if you die in that term. Term Insurance generally offers the
cheapest form of insurance. You can renew most Term Insurance policies for one or more
terms even if your health condition has changed. Each time you renew the policy for a new
term, premiums may climb higher.
Term policy, cover only the risk during the selected term period. If the policyholder
survives the term, the risk cover comes to an end.
A Term plan is a pure risk cover plan and it meet the needs of people who are initially
unable to pay the larger premium required for a whole life or an endowment assurance
policy, but they hope to be able to pay for such a policy in the near future.
LIC-TERM ASSURANCE PLANS
Amulya Jivan Policy
Anmol Jivan Policy
Convertible Term Assurance Policy
Two Year Temporary Assurance
Policy Products
 Death Benefit, Maturity Benefit, Payment of Premiums, Surrender Value, Loan, Cooling
Off Period, Grace Period, Paid Up Value.
Plan Parameters- Amulya Jivan & Anmol Jivan Policies
✔ Minimum age at entry 18 Year (Completed)
✔ Maximum age at entry 60 years (nearest birthday)
✔ Maximum age at maturity 70 years
✔ Policy term 5 to 35years
✔ Minimum Sum Assured Rs.25,00,00/-
Plan Parameters-Convertible Term Assurance Policy
✔ Entry Age 20(nearer 50 years birthday)
✔ Sum Assured 50,000- 1,00,00,00
✔ Term 5 years to 7 years
✔ Mode of Payment -Yearly, half yearly, quarterly, monthly
Plan Parameters-Two Years Temporary Policy
✔ Entry Age 18 years 60 years (completed)
✔ Sum Assured 50,000 1,00,000
✔ Term 6months to 2 years
✔ Mode of Payment -Single Premium
✔ Maximum Premium -62 years
✔ Policy Loan Available -No
WHAT IS MONEY BACK PLAN
Money back policies are quite similar to endowment insurance plans where the survival
benefits are payable only at the end of the term period, plus the added benefit of money back
policies is that they provide for periodic payments of partial survival benefits during the term
of the policy so long as the policy holder is alive.
An additional and important feature of money back policies is that in the event of
death at any time during the term of the policy, the death claim comprises full sum
assured without deducting any of the survival benefit amounts.
The insurance premiums of Money Back Policies are higher than Term Insurance
Policy because in Term Insurance there is no survival benefit after the expiry of the
insurance period. Money Back Policies are good for people who want to insure their
life and also want to some return from their investment's at a later date. The return
from investments in Money Back Policies would range between 5% to 8% p.a.
depending on the interest rate movements.
LIC-MONEYBACK PLANS
Jivan Surabhi
Money Back Policy-25 years
Benefits: Death Benefit, Survival Benefit, Maturity Benefit, Supplementary Benefit,
Surrender Value, Loan
Plan Parameters-Jivan Surabhi Policy
✔ Minimum plan Entry Age 18 (last birthday)
✔ Maximum plan 106 55years, plan 107 50years, plan 108 50years
✔ Sum Assured 50,000, No Limits
✔ Term 15 years
✔ Fixed Terms
✔ Maximum Premium 70 years
✔ Paying Period
Plan Parameters-25 Year Money back
✔ Policy
✔ Entry Age 13 (last 50 years birthday)
✔ Sum Assured -50,000 No Limit
✔ Term -20 & 25years -
✔ Maximum Premium -70 years
  The preference of money back and endowment policies
by Indian customers
But out of all these policies money back and endowment policies of LIC have been widely
preferred by customers for very long. The reason for this is provided in the benefits of these
policies given as follows:

Money Back Policy Benefits:

The benefits under money back policies premiums can be paid as per the insurance
company’s policy. These could be quarterly, half yearly or annually. The premiums for these
policies are payable for the selected term of years, or till death if it occurs earlier.

 By buying such policies one can receive income at regular intervals other than the risk
cover it provides. Also a good amount of bonus on the full sum assured is quite a
good bargain.

 Money back life insurance policies offer the dual benefits of insurance and
redemption of money at regular intervals.

 These policies fit perfectly in the scheme of things of traditional savings, for people
who seek financial instruments that provide insurance and savings elements, coupled
with low risk element and guaranteed returns.

 It creates a long-term savings opportunity with a reasonable rate of return, especially

since the payout is considered exempt from tax except under specified situations.

Endowment Policy Benefits:

Under a special provision in the Income tax Act, the returns on an insurance policy are tax
free. There will be two possibilities, if the policy is other than a term policy.

a) On untimely death of the insured: In this situation, a benefit can be received on the death
of the person insured under the policy. This receipt is tax free in the hands of the dependants
who actually receive the insurance benefit. This means that under Section 10 (10D) of the
Income Tax Act the amount received on death from an insurance policy will not be included
in the taxable income calculations.

b) On maturity: In this case, the amount would be received at maturity of the policy. It
would include bonus and other benefits. This happens when the policyholder actually lives
through the entire policy period, for example, in money back policies or endowment policies.
In this case too the receipt is completely tax-free in the hands of the investor.
Example
Consider a case where a customer takes a policy with a sum assured of Rs 10 lakh cover. At
maturity after 20 years, the total amount including bonus comes to Rs 21 lakh. The bonus is
accumulated at different rates for the years over the life and this works out to Rs 11 lakh
totalling to an overall figure of Rs 21 lakh; this entire amount is tax free.

While that is true, one of the reasons for endowment and money back policies to be more
popular than others is also the fact that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) agents
pushed them vigorously. The reason - commission on these products is higher than other
products. As a result the market is not aware about other usual products that are in LIC's
portfolio. Thus due to the above advantages Indian customers preferred LIC’s money back
and endowment policies.

Question 2: Analyze the different kinds of innovative

products being offered by various insurance companies
in India in the early 21st century, highlighting the
essential differences as compared to LIC's product
portfolio.

The new private insurer focused on providing customized product - product that contain
innovative feature- to the customers for this the company conducted extensive market
research to figure out what types of products would appeal to consumers .

MAX NEWYORK LIFE - INRODUCTION

Max New York Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between New York Life
International Inc. And Max India Limited. New York Life, a Fortune 100 Company, is one of
the world’s experts in life insurance with over 156 years of experience in the business and
over US$ 165 billion (Rs. 775,000 Crores) in assets under management. Max India Limited is
a multi-business corporate, focused on the knowledge, people, and service-oriented business
of life insurance. Max New York as a part of its innovation added life insurance to credit risk
insurance, whereby individuals could get their housing/ vehicle loan insured. Max New York
Life also introduces new endowment policies/ children endowment at the age of 18, 24 &16.
The two new riders were also added to these policies- the payer benefit rider and 5 year term
renewable and convertible rider.
 HDFC STANDARD LIFE INSURANCE
HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between HDFC, India’s largest
housing finance institution and Standard Life Assurance Company, Europe’s largest mutual
life company. HDFC manages Rs. 21,450 Crores in assets and Standard Life manages over
US $100 billion in assets. Both the promoters are well known for their ethical dealings, their
financial strength and their commitment to be a long-term player in the life Insurance
industry.
The HDFC Standard Life offered its customers a choice between the base
products (the co. offered two products- the endowment policy and the money
back policy) each of which would be accompanied by four riders (critical
illness, accidental death benefit, waiver of premium and double sum assured),
acc. to the requirement of the customer. HDFC tender life offered 14 pre
packaged products from which customer could choose the one that best suited
their need. Also, the customers were allowed to mix and match the benefit in
order to create the most suitable product. The co. also planned to introduce
unit linked product and individual pension product after the required
amendment were made to the insurance.
ICICI Prudential Life offered compound interest. It also offered accident benefit
and disability benefit riders with a marginally higher premium of Rs. 270 p.a. it also
launched a pension plan “ ICICI Pru Forever” which would provide the policy holder
a fixed income after a certain period of time with additional riders such as critical
illness benefit, major surgical benefit, accident and disability benefit.
Tata AIG came up with whole life policy known as MahaLife, which would provide
life cover for 100 years, with guaranteed annual payment of 5% of the sun assured
each year from the 13th year for the rest of the life. Policy holder needs to pay
premium only for the first 12 years of the policy or until death whichever came
earlier.
Aviva launched 3 products in early 2002- life long, a whole life flexible protection
plan, life saver, premium endowment savings plan, and life bond, a single premium
investment bond. Aviva also offered “unitize with profit” products (like unit linked
product, under “unitize with profit”, the premium was split into many units. A part of
the investment return was held that by the insurance co. to offset market fluctuation
during the term of the policy, and the surplus was distributed as terminal benefit).
Having realised the untapped potential of the rural market for insurance products,
AMP Sanmar decided to target semi urban and small town by having product
 features simple and straight forward. AMP Sanmar decided to keep its product
strategy as offering simple life insurance solution to individual primarily aiming at
wealth creation and risk protection.
Birla Sun Life also launched products meant for the rural population in order to
capture a larger market share. It launched the Birla Sun Life Kavach Yojna, a three
year single premium insurance cover available in denomination of Rs. 50, 100, and
200, which offered 100 times the amount of premium paid in the event of death of
customer.

Price Dispersion of Life Insurance Products

Life insurance products like Whole Life or Endowment or Money Back policies have two
components: saving and security. Specifically, there is an element that pays even when a
policyholder survives the duration the policy is in force. Therefore, the “price” or the
premium obscures the protection element offered by such policies. Hence, it is somewhat
difficult to compare such products. Many insurance products have additional benefits (called
riders). For example, buying bags of fertilizer in villages might include one-year term life
benefits. Thus, if a product also riders, it becomes even more difficult to value them because
of the embedded options.

Comparison of the products

Market-linked returns have become the norm today. This is the reason why insurance
companies launch unit-linked plans in different avatars. Important segments of the consumer
market no longer consider life insurers as competing only with other life insurers. In an effort
to gain market power and thereby to protect or enhance profitability the issue of product
development and innovation, including pricing and marketing innovation, is all the more
important with the continued convergence among financial service competitors.

The most significant innovation of the Birla Sun Life and AMP Sanmar is that it has
provided social security -insurance cover to the rural and society's poorer sections. In
the rural and non-traditional business, these two have rightfully claimed distinction
for product innovation. The products include insurance cover, with a very low rate of
premium, for livestock, poultry, ducks, fishery, horticulture, sericulture, agriculture,
pump sets, gramin personal accident, hut insurance, tribal welfare, etc., whereas such
facilities were not made available by GIC nor LIC till 2002.
LIC has done a reasonably good job of introducing a couple of new products over the
last two-three years, but there has been very little innovation in the sector in general.
The majority of the products available today are also skewed more towards
investment return rather than death benefit. With the advent of competition, many
new products will be introduced in the market and customers will benefit from more
value and options as a result.
If we observe the trend of ULIPS in insurance market, after the insurance sector is
opened, private players, came up with aggressive marketing strategies to establish
their presence. ‘Modern’ products, which are unit-linked life insurance policies
where the investment risks is borne by the policyholder. The LIC hardly took any
step for this purpose until recently.
Falling interest rates [The last five years saw interest rates fall dramatically by 400
basis points]. This was also initiated by the private players owing to cut throat
competition. The liberalization was also accompanied by wider product offerings by
the insurers [ex. Endowment plan, pension plans etc] as compared to the products of
LIC.
An insurance company should know with reasonable accuracy the chance of death at
each age. A mortality table gives an estimate of how many, out of the members of a
group starting at a certain age, are expected to be alive at each succeeding age. It is
used to compute the probability of dying in or surviving through any period. The
mortality table should be appropriate to the group of lives being insured. The
mortality table used by LIC was old, outdated and obsolete, whereas new companies
calculated their premiums on the basis of revised and recently updated mortality
tables.
In a Whole life policy, the sum assured with bonus is paid out either on death or
survival till a pre-determined age. Whole life policies expire at age 100. A few expire
earlier. Whole life insurance policies are valuable because they provide permanent
protection and accumulate cash values for emergencies or bequeaths. Since it is
unrealistic to expect the policyholders to keep paying level annual premiums beyond
certain age, most insurance companies provide an option to the policyholders to pay
their premiums over a shorter term called premium-paying term. LIC stands nowhere
near this mark of cover of 100years by Tata AIG. Again, we find that there is only
one non-participating whole life policy available in the Indian market.
 Question 3: Critically comment on LIC's decision to
shuffle its portfolio in response to the product/pricing
moves of the new companies. Do you think that the
private players would be able to make a significant
difference to the market with their strategies in the long
run? Give reasons to support your stand.

 Change in LIC Portfolio

In the year 2002, LIC introduced a new facility- the term assurance rider- that would
accompany select life insurance policies. This facility provided an extra risk cover,
which was double the existing risk cover under the plan, subject to an overall limit of
Rs. 25 lacs. In addition to Anmol Jeevan, it introduced a few other new policies in
early 2002- “Jeevan Anand” (a combination of an endowment and a whole life plan)
“Jeevan Rekha” (a combination of money back and whole life plan), “Jeevan Surbhi”
(a money back policy) and “Jeevan Mitra” (an endowment policy). The “Jeevan
Surabhi” policy offered early payment of survival benefit and money back facility.
LIC also launched a new “Bima Kiran” policy, which had an accident benefit and
extended term cover beyond maturity period in addition to risk cover during the term
of the policy.

In addition to the new launches LIC also made changed to its product portfolio by
withdrawing certain scheme and bringing down return on some others. In March
2002, the company withdrew “Jeevan Sanchay” a children’s growth scheme and the
children’s money back policy due to the falling yield on investment. It also brought
down the assured return on its newly launched scheme following a 0.5% rate cut by
the RBI and the depressed sentiments in the market. In late 2001, LIC launched a
special campaign to revive people’s interest in its policies, which now carried
customer friendly incentives. A 30% waiver on late fees was offered along with
relaxation in the procedure of mandatory self declaration of good health and offered
for revival facility.

As a consequence of these changes, which brought about a bundling of insurance and

investments products, portfolio management of life insurance companies today is
similar to that of a bank or non bank financial company. Specifically LIC has to:
Look out for arbitrage opportunities in the market place both across markets and over
time,
 Use value at risk modelling to ensure that their reserves are adequate to absorb market
related shocks,
Ensure that there is no mismatch of duration between their assets and liabilities, and
Ensure that risk return trade off of their portfolios remain at an acceptable level.

Comment on product pricing of LIC

Pricing of insurance products, as empirically available in india, shows that pricing is not in
consequence with market realities. Life insurance premia are generally perceived as being too
high while general insurance (especially motor insurance) is priced too low. LIC, has over a
period of time affected reduction. For instance on ‘without profit policies’ (that is those who
are not eligible for bonuses), the premium rates were reduced between 2% to 7% during
1970’s. Subsequently in 1986, premium rates were reduced by 17% for such policies.
Practices such as charging extra premium, on female insurance were also discontinued.
However, these instances are an inadequate response to the changes going on in the market.
One of the most significant changes has been the improvement in life expectancy of
individuals. For males, this has improved from 41.89 years in 1961 to 62.80 years in recent
times. Similarly, female life expectancy has increased from 40.55 years in 1961 to 64.20
years. The problem faced by LIC in incorporating the trends in life expectancy in to their
actuarial calculation has been partly technological and partly organisational. Recognising this
LIC has indicated in its corporate plan 1997-2007 that they hope to put in place a year to year
revision of mortality rates in the calculation of premium.

Analysis of the products of new companies

To analyse the strategies of new companies it is important to know about the Market
dynamics of insurance sector. The Market Overview includes a timeline on the evolution of
the Indian insurance industry. An overview of the size and growth of the main segments is
also included. Product offerings by the leading players like HDFC, LIC, Tata AIG, Bajaj
Allianz etc are also mentioned in both the life and non-life insurance segments.
There have been various factors that have driven the change in the insurance market. These
include Increasing Gross Financial Household Savings, Deregulation in the Indian Insurance
Market and Increase in Dependency Ratio. All these have motivated the companies to come
up with new and innovative insurance products so as to deal with the growing needs of both
urban and rural people. As a result it can be justified that the new products by private players
are based on sound market research and reasonable grounds. Thus there are less chances of
failure of these private players in this sector. Private companies must also have looked into
Major Issues & Implications involved in the market. These include Unprofitable Health
Insurance Sector, Dearth of New Products. Owing to all these developments it can be
vindicated that most of private players are playing it safe by bringing the innovative products
in a market which is hungry for such rejuvenation. These are based on extensive market
research, are wisely priced and effectively distributed so as to minimize the risk of their
failure and ripe the maximum benefits of the untapped Indian insurance market. Thus these
companies are likely to survive in the long run.

Future Prospects: Market Share.

How would the life insurance market be divided up between the incumbent Life Insurance
Corporation and the newcomers? Models of market share have shown that in a fast growing
market, the first few years are critical.
In life insurance, the Life Insurance Corporation has two important elements in its
favour.
The Life Insurance Corporation has a vast distribution network in the rural and semi-
urban areas. This would be hard to duplicate. One potential way to duplicate it would
be through bancassurance – selling insurance through banks. Some insurance
companies have already embarked on this road.
Since the Life Insurance Corporation started with 100% of the market share, it will
lose market share simply because of expansion of the market itself and less because of
loss of existing customers. The Life Insurance Corporation is the only financial
institution in the top 50 trusted brand names in India
As life insurance benefits accrue over time, it becomes more expensive to switch -
because switching would mean a loss of accrued benefits. With the rapid expansion of
life insurance, the market share of the Life Insurance Corporation could fall below the
50% mark in five years time.
For the general insurance business, private companies would have an
easier access. Unlike life insurance, it is not expensive to switch insurers because most
policies are of one year or less. The problem of tariffication makes competitive pricing
difficult for the newcomers. In addition, reliable data on hazard rates are not available for
many risks.
Conclusions
The insurance sector is a colossal one and is growing at a speedy rate of 15-20%. Together
with banking services, insurance services add about 7% to the country’s GDP. A well-
developed and evolved insurance sector is a boon for economic development as it provides
long- term funds for infrastructure development at the same time strengthening the risk taking
ability of the country.
The wake up bugle for India's largest, and till date a monopoly, insurance company, the Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has been sounded. The Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority (IRDA) has licensed HDFC Standard Life, Max New York Life and
ICICI-Prudential combine to transact life insurance business along with Reliance and Tata-
AIG.

So are we going to see LIC struggling? Not necessarily, given LIC's known and hidden
strengths. And if the corporation can get its act together to meet the competition, it can be a
very tough adversary. In fact, LIC is not perturbed by the likely competition, while waking up
to the emerging reality. Conversely, it believes that it is the new players who will have to
seek cover if the Indian public sector giant flexes its huge financial muscle!

In spite of its strengths and advantages, LIC has a couple of holes in its shield that new
players would try to exploit. For instance, with intelligent pricing, HDFC Standard Life along
with HDFC could eat into LIC's individual assurance market It may be noted that LIC derives
sizeable business through its housing finance subsidiary, LIC Housing Finance Ltd., as its
insurance policy doubles as a collateral for the housing loan.

Further, new players will design products that cannot be directly compared with LIC's
products, at least during the initial years, to capture some market. Similarly, they could target
the group assurance schemes, individual and group annuity schemes, the segments LIC didn't
focus on intensively all these years.

"Competition will be severe in the group assurance schemes, more so in the case of gratuity-
assurance as compared to term-assurance schemes." Unit-linked insurance products is yet
another area which LIC has not tapped extensively due to restrictions placed by the Insurance
Act on investments of the Life Fund and also due to LIC's own diffidence.
Savvy marketing is another area where the new companies would score over LIC if the latter
continues its current style of functioning. For example, when NBFCs and even nationalised
banks deliver their fixed deposit certificates inside a plastic folder, LIC sends its policies –
to be preserved for decades -- in a brown envelope.

The flashy office and the glossy product literature of private insurers are sure to attract
customers and will immensely aid their marketing teams. On the other hand, LIC agents
depend entirely on their personal skills without any product literature to support.

On its costs side, LIC has to keep an eagle eye. "While its first year premium cost is the
lowest in the world at 65 per cent, it is not so in the case of renewal premium. Good global
companies have their renewal premium cost at eight per cent whereas for LIC it is around 13
per cent," he remarks. In fact, premium procurement costs will go up further if LIC decides to
pay agency commission as per the Insurance Act to retain its top-notch agents.

But for these small hitches, the LIC juggernaut is standing on a solid wicket.