Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will unveil its much expected health insurance policy by end of this year, which will be unique and take on the competition from the private players in a big way, said T S Vijayan, Chairman, LIC.

“We are waiting for the approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and hope to get it in the days to come. We hope to launch the policy by the end of this year,” he said.

Responding to various questions, Vijayan, who was in Chennai on Thursday to announce the national launch of group critical illness rider, said the policy is developed by the corporation itself. Towards this the corporation has already entered into tie-ups with a few third party administrators to underwrite.

“We have nearly 22 crore customers in India and the corporation will pitch in the policy with those customers while targeting new customers,” he said. He, however, refused to disclose details of the policy further.

In response to a question, he said, the corporation will look into entering the US market for settting up a representative office. “It is difficult to do business in the US as different states have different regulations and different norms. In addition to that it needs huge capital infusion to run a business there,” he added.

According to Vijayan, the corporation is bullish on unit-linked policies as they are found to be more preferred by the customers. “So far 90% of our new premiums so far in the current fiscal come from ULIPs,” he said, adding. that the corporation has set a target of Rs 52,000 crore worth new premiums, including Rs 7,800 crore from group business, for the current fiscal.

When asked to comment on the corporation’s interest on IFCI, he said: “Though we hold sizeable stake of 8.4% and sizeable warrants which will make us a major shareholder, we have no plans to acquire the institution. We are keen on developing our business and our focus is to bring in huge benefits to our policyholders (as well as shareholders). We will think on maximising our benefits with those stake and warrants,” he added.

Critical illness product launched

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has announced the launch of `Group Critical Illness Rider’ (CI Rider), a new policy targeted primarly at employer-employee group, who have taken group insurance products earlier or are planning to buy a group insurance product. Unveiling the new policy in Chennai on Thursday, Vijayan said the rider has been developed to cover 8 major critical illness most relevant to India including that of cancer, coronary artery surgery, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, aorta, heart valve replacement and major burns.

The rider can be attached to any of the existing group insurance policies under employer-employee groups, group insurance, employees deposit link insurance, group gratuity, group leave encashment scheme on their scheme renewal date.