With the back of a stronger product portfolio and tie-ups with the banks.The LIC is aiming for a 15 per cent growth in first premium income and a 10 per cent rise in the number of policies from the eastern zone in 2015-16.
In 2014-15, the first premium income from the zone was Rs 3,960.36 crore and total number of policies were 26.18 lakh.
“Last year was tough for the LIC because we did not have adequate insurance products in our portfolio and we were adding products that comply with the revised life insurance guidelines of the IRDA. We were also training existing agents and recruiting new ones to sell these new policies,” said Hemant Bhargava, east zone manager, LIC.
The LIC, which had 50 policies in its kitty before the changes in regulations, now has around 23 schemes. It is looking to come up with policies in the unit-linked segment this year.
“This year, we have a target of recruiting 36,000 agents with zero termination,” Bhargava said.
In the eastern zone, the LIC has 1.45 lakh agents. “One of the big challenges is to motivate around 20,000 non-performing agents and make them more active,” he said.
Revival of lapsed policies is another concern for the eastern zone. “We had started a special campaign last year on revival of lapsed policies and were successful in reviving over 5 lakh policies,” he said.
The LIC is also tying up with the banks to offer policies under the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.
“We have signed an MoU with three nationalised banks in the zone – the Uco Bank, the UBI and Allahabad Bank. Pacts have also been signed with the regional rural banks. Given the vast network of these banks, we hope to cover a considerable chunk of the population,” Bhargava said.
