PM Modi sees women as agents of change to boost LIC reach

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the Bima Sakhi Yojana by LIC and announced a goal of roping in 200,000 women under this scheme over the next three years to spur insurance penetration in the country.

Modi pitched it as yet another initiative to empower women and make them a crucial group of stakeholders in realising the developed India by 2047 goal.

Under this scheme by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), women aged between 18 and 70 years with a minimum qualification of Class X, among other conditions, will be trained by the state-run insurance behemoth to become its agents.


Each eligible woman will get a monthly stipend of ₹7,000 in the first year, ₹6,000 in the second and ₹5,000 in the third year.


Addressing a massive gathering of mostly women here, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of 25,000 Bima Sakhis with the launch of the programme.

He said new streams of energy would be required to light up the dream of developed India and there should be adequate opportunities for women to grow.

The Prime Minister exuded confidence that women will also play a crucial role in the "insurance for all" initiative, just like they have excelled in other fields.

India's insurance penetration was about 4% of its GDP in 2023-24, trailing the global average of 6.8%, despite marked improvement in recent years.


Highlighting a number of official initiatives, including those for women, Modi said they may seem small but they are changing the fate of India.

He said under two insurance schemes run by the government -Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana -claims worth ₹20,000 crore have been processed.

Addressing the gathering, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the eligible women under the scheme can be life-time agents of LIC if they clear the requisite test after three years.

The Modi government, Sitharaman asserted, has been empowering women through various schemes, highlighting that the latest budget has provisions totalling ₹3.3 lakh crore for women-related programmes.