Digital transformation of all operations on LIC agenda, says Chairman Mohanty

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Surging June-quarter earnings at the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's biggest institutional investor and the second-largest state entity by market value, surprised Dalal Street, with the insurance market leader showing minimal impact of adverse tax rules on high-value non-par products. Chairman Siddhartha Mohanty tells Shilpy Sinha and MC Govardhana Rangan that the insurer is undergoing a digital transformation it believes will help achieve the social objective of extending life cover to the uninsured, and wrest back market share in the process. Edited excerpts:Last quarter (April-June) earnings soared from a year ago. What drove the growth and is it sustainable? This is sustainable and profit is likely to increase in the coming quarters.

We have reported ₹9,543 crore, of which ₹7,491 crore was accretion on available solvency transferred. Even if we remove this, it has grown to ₹2,050 crore.But the overall policy sale has slowed, denting market share. What happened? After listing, we have had a directional change in our product mix.

Participating products are dominant in LIC's product mix. We have sensitised our field force in the best interest to sell non-par products that yield better margins. Share of non-par has gone up to 10.22% from 7.75% last year.

Our objective is to take it to high double digits.'Looking to regain market share'Has the withdrawal of tax benefits from high value non-par products affected the income? It had minimal impact on LIC. The number of policies beyond Rs 5 lakh was less than 1% and premium wise 2%. People today buy insurance not just for tax purposes.