Insurance

Insurance

» The basic concept of insurance is of spreading the loss of a few over many. Insurance industry includes two sectors-Life Insurance and General Insurance. Life Insurance in India was introduced by Britishers. A British firm in 1818 established the Oriental Life Insurance Company at Calcutta now Kolkata.

» Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India was established in September 1956. General Insurance Corporation (GIC) was established in November 1972.

» Indian Insurance sector has low penetration particularly in rural areas. It also has low turnover and profitability despite high premium rate. The committee on Insurance Sector Reforms was set-up in 1993 under the chairmanship of R.N. Malhotra which submitted its report in 1994.

» Since opening up, the number of participants in the industry has gone up from 6 insurers (including Life Insurance Corporation of India, 4 public sector general insurers and General Insurance Corporation of India as the national reinsurer) in the year 2000 to 47 insurers as on March, 2010 operating in the life, non-life and reinsurance segments (including specialised insurers viz. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. AICIL)

» 36 companies in the private sector are operating in the country in collaboration with established foreign insurance companies from across the globe as on 31 March, 2010.

» The Life Insurance Corporation with its Central Office in Mumbai, 8 Zonal Offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Bhopal and Patna, 109 Divisional Offices including one Salary Savings Schemes (SSS) Division at Mumbai, 2048 Branch Offices and 1004 Satellite Offices as on 31 March, 2010, spreads the message of Insurance the length and breadth of India.

» At present LIC is operating internationally through Branch Offices in Fiji, Mauritius and U.K. and through Joint Venture Companies in Bahrain, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Saudi Arabia. Its Representative Office in Singapore was opened on 6 Nov. 2008.