LIC actuarial surplus up 10 pc to Rs 22,716 cr in FY'11

MUMBAI: State-owned life insurance giant LIC has recorded 10 per cent jump in net actuarial surplus to Rs 22,716 crore for 2010-11 which has helped it to declare an additional bonus for seven of its 'with-profit plans'.

Life Insurance Corporation will be paying a bonus of Rs 21,580 crore to policyholders, up from last fiscal's Rs 19,557 crore, while Rs 1,135 crore has been allocated as government's share against Rs 1,029 crore the year before, its Executive Director (Corporate Communications) Vipin Anand told reporters here.

It has increased the bonus component for seven 'with profit plans' like Jeevan Anand, Jeevan Shree I and Jeevan Bharti I among others, he said.

Actuarial surplus is amount by which the value of a company's fund exceeds the amount it must pay out in benefits.

The corporation, which celebrated its 55th anniversary yesterday, collected Rs 2,03,358 crore in premium last fiscal, accounting for 68.70 per cent of the market, Anand added.

However, lack of popular offerings like 'Market Plus' in its product suite has resulted in a "negative growth" on premiums for the four-month period ended July 31, 2011, even though its market share grew to 72.43 per cent, its Executive Director (Marketing) S Roy Chowdhury said.

He said LIC is mulling launch of newer products in the near future both in the offline and online space.

Anand said last fiscal, announcement of doing away with the Ulip policies from September 1, 2010, had created additional interest among the public. He sounded confident of growth in premiums in the second half.

Both the executive directors, however, declined to give details on the soon to be launched products from the insurance behemoth.

As on March 31, 2011, the Corporation's total assets stood at Rs 13,17,416 crore, up from Rs 11,52,057 crore in the previous fiscal, while the solvency ratio stood at a comfortable 154.07 per cent as against the prescribed 150 per cent.