LIC will try to maintain bonus levels: LIC Chairman

Nagpur, Nov 22 (UNI) Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will try to maintain the level of bonus paid on its policies, Chairman T S Vijayan today said.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Vijayan said the corporation's hidden surplus would be utilised, if necessary, to maintain the bonus level. If there was a surplus income, it would be passed onto the policy-holders as terminal bonus at the end of the term of policies, he said.

He said that LIC was going in for a major data management project wherein the records of the 19 crore policies would be scanned and stored on computers. Pilot projects initiated in two branches in Mumbai had been 'very successful,' Vijayan said, adding that the process was expected to be completed in all branches in the country in about six years.

LIC's total premium income was Rs 38,713 crore between April and August 2006, which was 38.53 per cent higher than Rs 27,945 crore collected during the same period last year, he said.

The 'Bima Gold' scheme would remain one of LIC's important products in the years to come, he added.

Vijayan was in the city to attend a meeting of branch managers from four divisions of LIC in Maharashtra.

UNI AB PM SKB1827