LIC’s Investment in Equities

LIC’s Investment in Equities

• Life Insurance Corporation of India’s investment in stock markets every year is around 8-9 percent of its total premium collection.

• Its investment in State Bank of India is around 9.16 per cent.

Insurance

• In India, insurance has a deep-rooted history.

• The year 1818 saw the advent of life insurance business in India with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta.

• This company however failed in 1834, in 1829, the Madras Equitable had begun transacting life insurance business in the Madras Presidency.

• The year 1870 saw the enactment of the British Insurance Act and in the last three decades of the nineteenth century, the Bombay mutual (1871), oriental (1874) and Empire of India (1897) were started in the Bombay Residency.

• This era, however, was dominated by foreign insurance offices which did good business in India, namely Albert Life Assurance, Royal Insurance, Liverpool and London Globe Insurance and the Indian offices were up for hard competition from the foreign companies.

• In 1914, the Government of India started publishing returns of Insurance Companies in India.

• The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act, 1912 was the first statutory measure to regulate life business.

• In 1928, the Indian Insurance Companies Act was enacted to enable the Government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life business transacted in India by Indian and foreign insurers including provident insurance societies.

• In 1938, with a view to protecting the interest of the Insurance public, the earlier legislation was consolidated and amended by the Insurance Act, 1938 with comprehensive provisions for effective control over the activities of the insurers.

• The Insurance Amendment Act of 1950 abolished Principal Agencies. However, there were a large number of insurance companies and the level of competition was high. There were also allegation of unfair trade practices.

• The Government of India, therefore, decided to nationalize insurance business.