LIC is the giant of the insurance sector. The overall size of LIC is much more than that of all private insurance companies. Private insurers are in expansion mode and are increasing their size but are still much behind LIC. Total premium deposits in LIC is much higher than the private insurance companies. Total premium of LIC in FY 07-08 was 149789 crores which three times more than that of private insurancecompanies.
Income of LIC is much greater than private insurance companies. Last year total income from investments of LIC was 48244.14 crores which was nearly equal to the total income of the all private insurance companies. By this we can imagine how big the LIC is.
Size of balance sheet of private insurance companies are lagging much behind LIC. Balance sheet of LIC is seven times bigger than that of private insurance companies.
If we see the total number of policies issued by LIC and private insurance companies, we find that there is a huge gap between them. No doubt that LIC is a well established player in the field of insurance and many private companies have just started their business. Hence it is obvious that LIC is having large number of policy holders.
Number of branches of private insurance companies is increasing as the new playersare entering in this market. Also the established players are in expansion phase and hence are expanding there business. There are many private insurance companies and hence there total number of branches has gone past LIC in the last financial year. But offices of private insurance companies are mostly in urban areas and still it is LIC which covers most of the area. Hence we see that LIC is leading when it comes to size. It is giant in insurance sector having huge network and customer base.
LIC is certainly having a large customer base. Private insurance companies are not having that much number of customer base. LIC, being the oldest player in the existing insurance market, has the biggest marketshare of 73.9 % which was 87.3% five years earlier. LIC will certainly create a good business for themselves in the coming days.
There are many new entrants in this sector. There are many private insurance companies who have reported loss in this and previous years. This is the main reason why private insurance companies lag behind LIC in case of business per branch. There is a big difference between them.
Same is the case when it comes to income per branch. LIC is much ahead of private insurance companies in this field. They are undoubted champions in insurance when itcomes to profit earning.
New business is increasingly going towards private insurance companies but still the customer base of LIC is very strong. In issuing new policies per branch also, they areahead of private insurance companies though not by very large margin. Customer base of LIC is very strong and still business per branch, profit per branch or premium per branch, they are leading much ahead of private insurance companies.