J&K floods to have 'minimal' impact on LIC, says its chairman

Mumbai, Sep 21: Life Insurance Corporation, which has nearly 13 lakh customers in flood-ravaged Jammu & Kashmir, has said the financial impact of the massive tragedy would be "very minimal" on the company.

"Financial impact due to the massive floods in Kashmir this month will be very nominal for us. Even after the massive devastation caused by Uttarakhand landslides last year, the financial implication on us was very small, at under Rs 7 crore from 435 claims, while in Kashmir the loss of lives is lower at less than 300," LIC Chairman Surya Kumar Roy told PTI during an interaction here, without attributing a number to it, adding that so far no claims have been made.

Roy said that LIC has 12.7 lakh policyholders in the flood-ravaged state, making it the largest player.

"With an insurance density of only 4%, if we calculate loss of lives from the floods at 300, this works out to be merely 12 claims. Our assured sum in the state is Rs 16,435 crore as of last fiscal, out of our total 12.7 lakh policyholders," Roy said.

After the worst landslide in Uttarakhand last year, in which hundreds of people were killed, LIC received only 435 claims worth Rs 6.8 crore (assured sum), Roy said, adding that out these 435 claims, as many as 98% were from outside the affected state.

Answering a question if the LIC would once again be forced to bail out massive disinvestment plans of the government beginning next week, Roy, who took charge on July 1, 2013, said that the impression about his company being forced to pick up stakes in government companies is baseless.

"Tell me, is there a single PSU, in which we lost money," he said, adding, "Most of the investments have given us good returns, to the tune of over 40 per cent and in some cases even more than double".

PTI