On Wednesday, the Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee had a discussion with the board of Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) on various issues like cutthroat competition among the insurers, mis-selling of policies and promotion of online policies.

In the private sector, life insurance companies have started selling policies through the internet. A customer can purchase a pure online term insurance policy by visiting the respective insurer’s website and pay the premium...  Read More »

January to March is the tax-saving season which sees high number of customers flocking towards financial products to avail tax benefits. This is the time when insurance companies try to cash-in on these customers and maximize their revenues. But this quarter may be a little disappointing for customers looking to invest in pension plans as well as for the private life insurers.
The reason for this is the withdrawal of existing pension or retirement plans from the markets because of the new...  Read More »

Last November, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had released new guidelines for pension plans scrapping the 4.5% guaranteed annual return clause. This move was welcome by the insurers as it meant more flexibility without having the burden of offering a guaranteed return. At the same time, the regulator said that the pension products should carry an ‘assured benefit’ which the insurers must disclose at the time of sale.

With effect from January 1, 2012, life insurance...  Read More »

Insurance regulator has released new guidelines for pension products offered by all the life insurance companies in India including LIC. According to the new circular life insurance companies will no longer have to guarantee a minimum return of 4.5% on pension products. However, pension plans will have a defined assured benefit that would be applicable on vesting, on surrender and on death. This assured benefit must be disclosed at the time of sale by the insurance company, said IRDA in its...  Read More »

LIC of India has made an important announcement for all its policyholders and beneficiaries in newspapers and on its website.

To increase security and privacy of the policy money, and to speed up the credit process, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will be crediting all payments directly to the policyholder’s bank account.  Payments include Maturity Benefit, Survival Benefit, Surrender Benefit, Pensions; Money on Group Schemes, Loans etc.

LIC has requested all its Policyholders...  Read More »

Aviva Life Insurance Company has received ISO 9001: 2008 certification for quality excellence. ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized quality management system standard and Aviva Life Insurance is one of the few BSFI organizations in India to have achieved this milestone.
This certification demonstrates Aviva’s commitment to meeting globally recognized management system requirements.

In order to qualify for ISO 9001: 2008 certification, Aviva Life Insurance met rigorous standards in...  Read More »

Tata AIG Life Insurance has partnered with state-run lender Syndicate Bank to extend a group insurance cover to home loan customers. The insurance cover will be made available to existing as well as new customers for home loan liability. This will be a real protection plan and customers can opt to pay the insurance premiums upfront or they can include it in their home loan EMI.
 
K. Devananda Upadhyaya, General Manager – Insurance and Marketing at Syndicate Bank, said, “With over 1.6 lakh home...  Read More »

The country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased the bonus component to on select policies, owing to an increase in its net actuarial surplus.

LIC has reported a 10% rise in its net actuarial surplus at Rs 22,716 crore in the financial year 2010-11 over Rs 19,557 crore in 2009-2010. Last fiscal, LIC paid Rs 1.029 crore as dividend to the government whereas this year the corporation will pay Rs 1,135 crore.

Vipin Anand, Executive Director- Corporate...  Read More »

LIC has a strong army of close to 1.5 million agents in India, a number that any insurance company would be envious of. This strong network of LIC is now attracting PFRDA which is somewhat struggling to sell its pension scheme – NPS Lite.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has a responsibility to provide a uniform platform for getting sufficient retirement income to all Indian Citizens. The body launched NPS Lite for the economically weaker or disadvantaged sections of...  Read More »

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is all set to give a makeover to the much talked about Pension plans. Since a long time, insurance companies have been unhappy with the 4.5% guaranteed annual return clause attached to pension products in India. This clause was one of the main reasons that deterred insurance companies from selling pension plans, with the exception of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

On the sidelines of the Insurance Summit, IRDA Chairman, J...  Read More »