Addressing a press meet here on Tuesday, LIC managing director GP Kohli said, ``We have shortlisted a number of international consultants, one of which will be on the job shortly. This will help LIC gear up for competition from the private sector.''

Announcing the corporation's half-yearly results, Kohli said LIC has registered a 27 per cent growth in first premium income for the half year ended September 30, 1998, compared with the same period in the previous fiscal. LIC has registered a first premium income of Rs 610 crore. The sales of number of policies have increased by 13 per cent during the first half of 1998-99 compared with theprevious year. LIC has sold 42.7 lakh policies during the period. The sum assured registered was Rs 19,731 crore as on September 30, 1998.

LIC is also increasing its exposure to several key infrastructure sectors including power, ports, jetties, bridges, roads, highways, railways and airports for this purpose. The centre has further widened the scope of LIC's investments in socially-oriented sectors. Investments can also be made in these areas through the private sector. This will be in addition to the housing sector to which the corporation already has a large exposure. The company has invested Rs 12,242 crore for housing, Rs 9,429 crore for electricity, Rs 2,268 crore for water supply and sewerage and Rs 551 crore for road transport. During the first year of the ninth five-year plan, LIC's contributions to the infrastructure sector have already crossed Rs 19,477 crore, Kohli added.

He was in Bangalore to inaugurate the metro areas network and the interactive voice response system for 27 branches in thecity. This facility will provide connectivity to all branches in the city and immediate access to information to all 11.80 lakh policyholders in the city.

The system has been set up at a cost of Rs 40 lakh in Bangalore. Chennai and Mumbai are the other two cities where LIC has recently introduced this service. According to Kohli, the corporation is planning to set up this facility in Delhi, Calcutta, Ahmedabad and Pune within the next few months. A target of four-five cities per annum has been set by LIC so that it can cover all centres with a population of at least one lakh.

The facility allows policy holders to obtain details of their premium position, status of the policy among other things by contacting telephone numbers provided. Policy details can be gathered in Kannada, English or Hindi.