.: June 2013

LIC CHAIRMAN SK ROY

The government has decided to appoint S K Roy the new chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

"We have decided on S K Roy as the new LIC Chairman," said financial services secretary Rajiv Takru to Business Standard.

Roy was appointed as the managing director of LIC on May 31. Thomas Mathew T was appointed interim chairman on May 31 after D K Mehrotra retired. It is not clear when Roy will take charge formally.

The government had interviewed five candidates for the post of the chairman, including managing director Sushobhan Sarkar, LIC Housing Finance MD & CEO V K Sharma, and three executive directors, S B Mainak, Roy and Usha Sangwan.

Roy joined LIC in 1981 as a direct recruit officer of the 11th Batch. He has served the Corporation in prominent positions like area manager, LIC HFL, secretary (legal), chief (SBU-estate), regional manager (P&IR) and executive director (marketing /bancassurance & alternate channels).

He was zonal manager of the north central zone from 2009 to 2011 and from 2011 to 2013, he was in charge of the Eastern Zone, one of the premier Zones of the Corporation. He had been recently posted as head of the international operations before taking over as managing director.

LIC is the country's largest life insurer with 83 per cent market share in terms of number of policies and 71 per cent in terms of premiums. LIC collected new business premiums of Rs 76,246 crore for the financial year 2012-13.
BUSINESS STANDERED

MIni LIC offices

Ref: CO/CP Date: 05/06/2013

To

All Zonal Managers
Re: Opening of Mini Offices- Upgradation of PremiumPoints.
It has been decided that LIC should have an office in all towns of India where
population is 10,000 or more. As per census data 2001, there are 3867 such towns.
Of these we already have offices in 2067 places in the form of Branch office/Satellite
office/SBA /ASBA Offices. Thus we have to open approximately 1800 offices by 31st
December 2013. We propose to do this, inter-alia, by upgrading the Premium Points
to the level of a Mini Office by entrusting some servicefunctions to them and by
posting/deputing of an official.
Competent authority to approve Mini Office:
The Sr.Divisional Manager will be the Competent Authority to approve establishment
of a Mini Office. If there is more than one Premium Point in the said town, the Sr.
Divisional Manager will identify the specific Premium Point which can be upgraded to
the Mini Office.
Eligible Towns:
All towns in India where, as per Census Report 2001, the total population is 10000
or more and there is no LIC office within the radius of 5 kms from the town. The term
“LIC Office” includes a Branch Office, a Satellite Office and SBA/ASBA Offices.
Set up and functions of the Mini Office:
The Mini Office will offer the following facilities:
a) Collection of premium,
b) Collection of proposal deposits
c) Entertain such Policy servicing requests as decided fromtime to time.
It is envisaged that the premium will be collected by Agent as is being done by him
now and the rest of the service functions will be attended by our representative
assigned there.
To set up the Mini Office, area admeasuring 150 sq.ft within the premises of the
Premium Point will be required. The premises should have good
visibility/approachability and should be preferably on the ground floor. A suitability
report of the proposed site is to be obtained by the Sr. Divisional Manager. The
Sr.Divisional Manager may depute an officer for obtaining the said report. It is
clarified here that if an agreement for hiring space for Premium Point is required, the
agent will execute it in his individual capacity only.
The following issues need to be addressed for upgradingthe Premium Points to Mini
Offices:
1) Legal:An agreement will be required to be entered with the agent. The draft
of agreement will be sent shortly.
2) Premises charges:The remuneration for the usage of infrastructure is tobe
decided based on the rentals prevailing in that area. The maximum amount
payable in Tier I and Tier II cities is restricted to Rs 8000/- p.m. and for Tier III
and Tier IV towns to Rs 5000/- p.m. Electricity charges are payable on actual
basis if a separate meter/sub meter is installed for the premises. In case there
is no separate meter a fixed amount, subject to a maxim um of Rs 1000/- p.m.
may be fixed.
3) Furniture:E & OS Department will issue instructions separately.
4) IT peripherals:A laptop, printer and internet connectivity through broadband
is to be provided. Detailed instructions on specifications of Hardware and
Software will be issued by IT/BPR Department.
5) Posting/deputation of an official for the Mini Office:The Sr. Divisional
Manager may post /depute an official of any cadre whois suitable for the job.
Wherever a person is available, the posting has to be done on regular basis.
In other cases, the Sr.Divisional Manager may depute one or more official on
alternate basis. In case of deputation, Deputation Allowance should be given
as per the rules of the Corporation.
6) Signage:The signage on the entrance of the premises is to be displayed
prominently so as to bring it to the notice of the general public. Format of the
signage will be provided by CC department.
7) Service requests:The following servicing functions can be provided in the
Mini Offices by the official deputed:
1. Change of address
2. Capturing NEFT details
3. Change of nomination.
4. RFM functions. (The exact instructions will be issued by CRM
Department separately.)
5. Status reports and quotations for various policy services like surrender,
loan.
6. Policy Payment enquiry option.
The documents containing any other service requests collectedshould be sent to
parent branches by post/courier for necessary action.
Please instruct all the Divisional Offices to start the process of selecting the sites of
Mini Offices. Inputs required to be issued by various departments of Central Office
will be sent shortly.
Executive Director (CP/NP)

300 LIC mini offices to come up by month-end

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India will open 300 mini offices across the country by month-end, said Thomas Mathew T, the Chairman-in-charge, LIC, adding that the corporation was opening 10 mini offices a day.

Addressing the media at a seminar on Financial Inclusion 'Millions to Cover-Reaching the Unreached through Insurance' at the National Insurance Academy (NIA) in the city, Mathew said the offices will provide basic insurance services and would be manned by LIC employees. LIC has 2,067 offices and satellite centres across the country and will open 1,320 more, he added.

The decision comes in the wake of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's announcement in the 2013 budget speech, where he talked about opening insurance offices across the country.

To speed up the process of opening offices and cut the time lag, IRDA has allowed expansion in Tier II cities, said T S Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA.

Vijayan also expressed hope of delivering insurance policies across the country through the 1 lakh Common Service Centres soon. Insurance companies would be able to deliver e-policies through the centres in two-three months when the insurance repository begins, he said, adding, this would bring about a reduction in the service cost of policies.

"We are in the process of finalising the draft for new bancassurance (bank insurance model) regulations. Things will be clear within a month," said Vijayan.

He said there is a difference in opinion between insurance companies promoted by banks and other insurance companies. Vijayan said he was confident of building a consensus on how to utilise the network of banks to sell insurance.

India's insurance penetration is 4.1 per cent much lower than developed nations like UK with 12 per cent and Japan with 13 per cent penetration.

Similarly, the insurance density in India was at US$ 59 compared to US$ 4,000 to $ 5,000 in advanced countries.
Express news service : Pune, Sat Jun 15 2013, 01:12 hrs