IRDAI wants Rs. 15,000 crore unclaimed amounts returned to policy holders :

IRDAI is working on mechanism to return Rs. 15,000 crore of unclaimed deposits lying idle with the life insurers. For amounts stuck in pension schemes, IRDAI has asked life insurers to repay them as lumpsum payments to policy holders or their beneficiaries.

There are many reasons why the insurance money is lying unclaimed. The policy holders may have died or there may be other reasons, In pension schemes, it was soften the case that the accumulated amount was insufficient to buy annuity from the life insurer, according to sources.

Earlier, the IRDAI had asked life insurance companies to provide a search facility on their website so that policyholders or their nominees could find out about the unclaimed amount by citing their Aadhaar or PAN. Life insurers are expected to update details and inform the IRDAI about unclaimed amounts lying with them at least twice a year.

According to official date, Rs. 15,166.47 crore was lying unclaimed with 23 life insures as on March 31. Of this, Rs. 10,509 crore was with Life Insurance Corporation of India, and Rs. 4,658.45 crore with private insurers.

IRDAI proposes changes to policy revival norms, increases Surrender Benefits :

Insurance policyholders are set to get substantial benefits, with IRDAI proposing significant changes to revival of policies and enhancing guaranteed benefits while surrendering the policies ahead of maturity. IRDAI has proposed to enhance the revival period limit to five years from the current two years and introduced guaranteed surrender value after two years from three years earlier.

IRDAI has sought comments from all stakeholders on the norms, It has proposed a minimum death benefit of seven times for regular premium products and 1.25 times for single premium products for all ages. IRDAI has introduced the option for commutation up to 60% and facility for partial withdrawal for linked pension products.

LIC bails our 4 PSU IPOs in 2018 :

Life Insurance Corporation of India played an important role in the Central Government disinvestment drive in 2018. LIC made a sizeable investment in IPOs of 4 public sector undertaking as per the analysis of shareholding data.

LIC bought 28 per cent of the total shares on offer in Garden Reach Ship builders’ share sale. LIC acquired 7.3 per cent stake in the ship building firm by investing nearly Rs. 1 billion in its Rs. 3.4 billion maiden offering.

Similarly, LIC invested in public issue of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. by mopping up 70 per cent of the shares offered. LIC bought a 7 per cent stake in the defence company for Rs. 28.4 billion during the IPO. Midhani (Mishra Dhatu) and Bharat Dynamics are other recent IPOs to have seen huge participation by LIC.