LIC to increase its investment from 8 to 10 pc

Bangalore, Mar 9 (UNI) The Life Insurance Corporation of India today said it would increase the company's investment in various sectors from eight to ten per cent.

Talking to newspersons here, LIC Chairman A K Shukla said the quantum of this year's investment had not yet been decided. Last year it had invested Rs 11,000 crore.

To a question, he said introduction of Health Insurance scheme was on the cards. A Core Committee had been set up to prepare the guidelines after studying functioning of such schemes by other insurance companies in the world. The report was expected to be submitted within the next three to four months.

Stating that the main bottleneck was that there was no price regulation in the health sector, he hoped that the Union Government would bring in a regulation before the report was submitted. ''Once we get the report and the price regulation is introduced, there may not be any difficulty in introducing the scheme,'' he added.

Ruling out the possibility of extending the Bhima Gold scheme till September, he said the scheme would end on March 31. It was a a grand success and had attracted a record 18 per cent investment compared to all other LIC schemes, he informed.

Mr Shukla said that LIC had collected Rs 15,700 crore from new policies this year till January 31. The total premium received this year might touch Rs 90,000 crore as against Rs 73,000 last year.

To another question, he said the market share could not be the only yard stick for determining the performance of a company. ''It is true that new companies in this sector attract more customers, but LIC is maintaining constant growth of 40 per cent and it is really a good sign and shows the company's steadiness in the field.

Earlier, Mr Shukla inaugurated the company's pilot project, Care Homes Limited, under which 98 houses had been constructed for senior citizens at a cost of Rs seven crore on the outskirts of the city.

He said ''This project marks the beginning of the diversification initiative of LIC Housing Finance Limited. This may be the first corporatised initiative in the sector of elder care in India.'' Talks were on with Kerala, West Bengal, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh governments to acquire lands for launching the project in the respective states, he added.

UNI MSP RG HVB1622