Insurance major lIC on Wednesday said it would exceed the target for first premium collection for this fiscal, indicating better times for the industry than the last year which was dismal for insurers.
life Insurance Corporation (lIC) had witnessed a 6.5 per cent drop in new premium collection in the last fiscal. “We have budgeted 12 per cent growth in first premium collection for the fiscal... But we will grow at substantially higher than the budgeted growth rate,” lIC Chairman S K Roy told reporters on the sidelines of an Irda event here.
“Our first premium growth for the year is more than 30 per cent as of now against budgeted 12 per cent,” he said, adding its growth will drive the insurance market in the current fiscal.
Meanwhile, Roy also said 15 products would be available for sale from next year as per new product guidelines issued by the Irda. “Whatever, we have filed with the regulator, we have got approval....On life side, we are looking to have at least 15 products on December 31....This is excluding the group side products, which had already been approved and sale for which have already started,” Roy said, adding most of the popular products will be available to customers.
He, however, said no UlIP (unit-lnked insurance product) will be among those products available in the first phase from January 1, 2014. On equity investment, Roy said lIC had invested around `33,000 crore till date in the equities market and future investment would depend on the available opportunities.
“In the current fiscal, we have invested around `33,000 crore as of now...We don’t have any benchmark. It will depend on the investment opportunities available in the market,” he said, adding the initial `40,000-crore mark will not be a limiting factor for equity investments.