Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC),facing a major challenge from 15 new players including international majors, has clawed its way back slightly, raising its share from 71 per cent to 77.51 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal.

T S Vijayan, recently appointed chairman of LIC, told a news conference that the government-controlled company has seen premium income rise by 182.26 per cent, as against an industry average of 177.44 per cent. New premium income has soared by 191 per cent.

"The life insurance industry in India has grown largely because of LIC's growth in the current fiscal," said a confident Vijayan. For financial year 2006-07, LIC expects premium income to rise to
Rs24,000 crore, about 40 per cent higher than in the previous year.

The corporation, which turns 50, will be launching a new product, Bima Gold-2, to mark the occasion on September 4. This follows the success of the first version of Bima Gold.

According to Vijayan, LIC has set a world record by settling 11.8 million claims worth Rs28,512 crore in 2005-06. Every day, the corporation settles nearly 45,000 claims, and 97 per cent of the claims are settled on or before the due date. And in the case of death claims, 93 per cent are paid within 20 days of intimation of death, he added.

LIC is also toying with the idea of entering the credit card business, following a report by KPMG, which suggested it could be a viable business. "We are currently looking for partners," said Vijayan.

The corporation has invested nearly Rs300,000 crore in central and state government bonds, about Rs60,000 crore in the infrastructure sector, and just around Rs3,000 crore in the equity markets. A bulk of its bond investments (about Rs240,000 crore) was in central government bonds, representing over 50 per cent of its total assets.

In the current fiscal, LIC has earmarked Rs150,000 crore for investment in various options, and about half would be invested in government bonds.