During the Budget 2020 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamam said LIC was set to go public. Despite the presence of 24 private companies, LIC has the highest market share in the life insurance segment in India. The history of LIC goes back several decades.
1818
Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England. Oriental Life Insurance Company started by Europeans in Calcutta was the first life insurance company on Indian Soil.
1956
The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance Corporation Act on June 19. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) was created on September 1. LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices and a corporate office.
1964
Computers were introduced into the workings of LIC.
1995
In July, LIC started a drive of On Line Service to Policyholders and Agents through computer.
2000
The insurance sector was liberalised in March through the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Bill.
2005
LIC functions with 91 centers, more than 2035 branches networked under WAN.
2019
Of India's 24 life insurance business, LIC is the sole public sector company.
2020
LIC functions with 2048 fully computerised branch offices, 113 divisional offices, 8 zonal offices, 1381 satallite offices and the Corporate office. According to Bloomberg, LIC's assets add up to over Rs.30 lakh crore. Employee unions of LIC have opposed the Centre’s plan to sell a part of its stake through an IPO.
