Sinha said this after inaugurating the "Metro Area Network" and "Interactive Voice Response System" facility being set up by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) here on Wednesday.

He also felt the need for expanding the insurance coverage geographically so that "every family in every remote village in the country feels safe and secure".

He added, than only the country could feel satisfied about the social network existing in the country. Moreover, he said, the resources mobilised through insurance policies could be invested for the development and progress of the country.

While complementing the LIC for taking this giant step in the direction of improving the quality of servicing, he stressed the need for improving the quality of the same throughout the country in viewof the government's move to open up insurance sector.

He allayed the fear of the insurance sector that privatisation would damage their interests and added that the Indian insurance companies were competent to face challenges. Sinha also said the LIC has achieved a lead over the years and it should continue to maintain it in the future so that the policy holders would have the confidence in its services. He said that competition always helped in building upon our past experiences and strengths.

On the occasion, the LIC chairman G Krishnamurthy handed over a cheque worth Rs. 235.7 crores to the finance minister as LIC's contribution towards government's share of valuation surplus for the year 1997-98.F While welcoming the finance minister, Krishnamurthy said that Delhi was the fourth in the series of cities taken up by LIC to upgrade its servicing through computer system as per the recommendations of the Malhotra committee.

He added that Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai were the other metros whereinteractive voice response system already exists. In the next one year, cities like Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad would also get this modern facility to improve servicing.

Among others, the function was attended BK Chaturvedi, special secretary (insurance and external finance) and N I Rangachary, chairman, IRA.