LIC chief sees protection plans driving growth
Life Insurance Corporation of India chief executive and managing director R. Doraiswamy has outlined a vision centred on protection-oriented products, a revamped product portfolio and
Life Insurance Corporation of India chief executive and managing director R. Doraiswamy has outlined a vision centred on protection-oriented products, a revamped product portfolio and a cautious assessment of the global economy. In his message in the 69th annual report, Doraiswamy said the uncertain global environment had reinforced the importance of financial protection, leading to sustained demand for term insurance and protection-oriented solutions. He described the sector as continuing to shift towards protection, digitization and customer-centric innovation. He separately flagged the effect of market conditions on LIC's investments. Heightened volatility in equity and debt markets had affected investment returns, he said, posing challenges in managing participating funds and delivering stable bonuses.
Higher interest rates, driven by inflation concerns, had a mixed impact, supporting yields on fixed-income investments while affecting the appeal of certain long-term savings products. GST waiver bonanza He welcomed the government's move to exempt individual policies from goods and services tax, calling the full GST waiver on all individual policies a “bonanza” that had come as a relief to policyholders. He framed it as a measure that would support demand as LIC works towards wider insurance coverage. The message follows a year in which LIC's protection push was clearly reflected in its numbers. The share of non-participating products in individual annualized premium equivalent rose to 35.11% in FY26 from 27.69% a year ago.
That helped lift its value-of-new-business margin, a gauge of how profitable new policies are, to 21.2% from 17.6%, with VNB rising 41.63% to ₹14,179 crore. LIC introduced 11 new products and modified five existing ones during FY26, to better serve customers as their needs evolve. Doraiswamy identified persistency, a measure of how many policyholders keep paying their premiums, as one of the areas LIC's new mobile apps are meant to strengthen, alongside growth and operational efficiency. On a premium basis, LIC's 61st-month persistency stood at 59.31% in FY26, against 63.12% a year ago. Also Read | MetLife keen to acquire majority stake in India life insurance JV with PNB West Asia war impact He set his message against a cautious macro backdrop.
He cited the International Monetary Fund's January 2026 report projecting global growth of 3.3% in 2026 and 3.2% in 2027, and said the US-Iran war in 2026 had indirectly influenced India's life insurance sector through inflationary pressures on household incomes. He placed India's GDP growth at 6.5-7.0% for FY26.
The BriefWire