It gives me immense pride and pleasure to present you the Annual Report
of Life Insurance Corporation of India for the fiscal year 2023-24. The year marked yet
another illustrious chapter in our enduring legacy of excellence in the life insurance
sector. We continue to be a pivotal force in the vibrant growth narrative of our nation.
We focused diligently on our core strengths and endeavored to leverage cutting-edge
technologies, while remaining unwaveringly committed to our stakeholders, throughout the
year. We embarked on major strategic initiatives which are bound to culminate in the
successful implementation of significant reforms taking care of changing market dynamics
thereby reinforcing our position in the industry.
Global /Indian Scenario
The global economy has displayed a remarkable resilience amidst the
escalating geopolitical risks in the Middle East and unprecedented monetary tightening.
Against the backdrop of volatile global financial markets and unexpected climate setbacks,
major central banks in advanced economies (AEs) have kept policy rates on hold to ensure
the aligning of inflation with targets. As per IMF (International Monetary Fund) January
2024 report, global growth is projected to stay at 3.1% in 2024 and rise to 3.2% in 2025.
Going by the latest statistics released by MoSPI (Ministry of
Statistics and Program Implementation) in February 2024, India is showing clear signs of
strong economic growth momentum in near-term as against the sluggish growth seen amongst
global peers. Based on the figures of strong growth in manufacturing and servicing sector
combined with the expectation of normal monsoon, RBI has recently projected the real GDP
growth for FY 2024-25 as 7%. International rating agencies like Asian Development Bank
(ADB) have also raised India's GDP growth forecast for FY 2024-25 to 7% earlier this
year, driven by robust growth in consumer demand and increase in public and private sector
investment.
All these factors are expected to have a positive impact on the Indian
Insurance Industry in the near future as well.
Indian Life Insurance Market
With its huge geographic spread and diverse population, there is a
large untapped market with huge potential in respect of the Indian life insurance market.
With easing of regulatory policies, favorable demographics coupled with increased spending
capabilities, and measures taken to drive insurance literacy and inclusion, it is
anticipated that life insurance will continue to find favour amongst all segments.
LIC, has always launched products that provide optimum life coverage
and investment returns. Our goal is to leverage the available vast network of agents to
its fullest capacity, and to create the right channel mix by also strengthening other
alternate channels including digital channel to provide our customers a seamless digital
journey.
While our focus remains primarily on profitable growth in market share,
our objective is to create value for all stakeholders. As a forward looking service
oriented organization, we are completely focused on customer acquisition and retention
with our proactive digital services and innovative products to cater to their ever
changing needs.
Business Performance and Strategy: ^
LIC's market share by premium and number of policies stood at
58.87% and 69.91% respectively as at the end of the previous financial year. Total premium
income was ' 4,75,070 Crores with an increase of 0.22% over the previous year. Premium
collected from Group Insurance business was ' 1,71,302 Crores and from Individual Business
was ' 57,716 Crores. Total AUM increased by 16.48% to ' 51,21,887 Crores and solvency
margin improved to 1.98. There has been significant increase in the Indian Embedded Value
(IEV) from ' 5,82,243 Crores as at 31.03.2023 to ' 7,27,344 Crores as at 31.03.2024, which
is a 24.92% increase. Also the share of non-participating business in Annualized Premium
Equivalent (APE) under individual category increased to 18.32% from 7.12% during the year
2022 and 8.89% in 2023, due to a conscious paradigm shift in our approach. We have also
registered a growth in our Net Value of New Business (VNB) which stands at ' 9,583 Crores
compared to ' 9,156 Crores the previous year. On similar lines, net VNB margin also
increased to 16.8% from 16.2%.
During the past year we put in immense efforts towards increasing the
share of business from Non-Participating products. We launched several new
non-participating products with an objective of strengthening our product basket based on
feedback obtained from customers and our field force. All these initiatives plugged the
product portfolio gap, and especially LIC's Jeevan Utsav, which was unique in various
ways. This product emerged as a catalyst for our performance during the last year and was
well accepted by the market.
List of products introduced during the year,
• LIC's Jeevan Utsav (Individual, Savings, Whole Life
Insurance plan with Guaranteed Additions throughout Premium Paying Term)
• LIC's AmritBaal (A guaranteed addition plan to meet the
higher education and other needs of the child),
• LIC's Index Plus (Unit Linked, Regular Premium plan with
Guaranteed additions as a percentage of Annualized Premium),
• LIC's Jeevan Dhara II (An Individual, Savings, Deferred
Annuity Plan),
• LIC's Jeevan Kiran (A term insurance plan with provision of
refund of premium, excluding any extra premium paid)
• LIC's Dhan Vriddhi Plan (Single Premium Life Insurance plan
which offers a combination of protection and savings under
individual category)
• LIC's Group Post Retirement Medical Benefit Plan (A group
savings plan)
While our total premium growth was stable during the year, going
forward we are planning to intensify our efforts and deploy all necessary resources to
enhance our market share.
Accolades
The previous year provided us with many feathers in our cap, some of
which are:
• We were ranked as the World's No.1 Insurance Brand as per
the Brand Finance Insurance 2024.
• LIC is the fourth largest insurer in the world based on life and
accident and health reserves, as ranked by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
• We were ranked 3rd amongst the largest Indian Companies as per
Fortune India, December 2023 issue.
• We were the 23rd Strongest Brand in the World's 25
Strongest Brands, 2024 - The Global 500, 2024 Report.
• LIC achieved Rank 3 in the Business World, Real 500 Business
Leaders List and the noteworthy point here is that LIC is the only Insurance Company on
the list.
I am sure most of you might have noticed that the market has given a
resounding reception to all these efforts.
f ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
As a responsible and socially committed organization, we are in the
process of formalizing an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework as a part
of our journey to embrace and contribute towards sustainability in various aspects of our
business and day to day activities. The objective is to identify and address gaps, if any,
in comparison with industry standards, both national and international by prioritizing and
optimizing resources.
Road ahead:
Globally, post-pandemic, all insurers have adopted innovative methods
to attract and retain their customers. Whilst the insurance industry appears to be driven
by technological advances, it is also felt that the fundamental aspects of insurance
industry — Affordability, Accessibility and Trust — will remain the essential
factors for any consumer to choose the right product and the right insurer suiting their
needs and goals.
As a commitment to progress, in the near future, we plan to offer
innovative and customized products, user friendly easy to use digital platforms and solid
human centric approach to our customers. We plan to have robust up skilling programs for
our field force as well as our employees so that excellent service experiences can be
offered to our customers.
To create long-lasting sustained value, we plan to welcome FY 2025 with
the next level leap in terms of business and by providing a best-in-class experience to
our customers. We have already rolled out our prestigious project called Digital
Innovation and Value Enhancement (DIVE). This will cut across the entire value chain and
enhance the digital experience of all our stakeholders from on boarding to claim
settlement.
In conclusion, I express my gratitude to all esteemed policyholders,
shareholders, agents, employees, regulators, government and other stakeholders for their
unwavering support and confidence.
Warm Regards Shri Siddhartha Mohanty
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director (Executive Chairperson)