WRITE A DESCRIPTIVE NOTE ON LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA .EXPLAIN IMP FUNCTIONS OF LIC. Insurance in IndiaInsurance in India refers to the market for insurance in India which covers both the public and private sector organisations. It is listed in the Constitution of India in the Seventh Schedule as a Union List subject, meaning it can only be legislated by the Central government.The insurance sector has gone through a number of phases by allowing private companies to solicit insurance and also allowing foreign direct investment. India allowed private companies in insurance sector in 2000, setting a limit on FDI to 26%, which was increased to 49% in 2014.[1] However, the largest life-insurance company in India, Life Insurance Corporation of India is still owned by the government and carries a sovereign guarantee for all insurance policies issued by it.LIFE INSURANCE CORP OF INDIALife Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian state-owned insurance group and investment company headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest insurance company in India with an estimated asset value of INR1560482 crore (US$240 billion).[2] As of 2013 it had total life fund of Rs.1433103.14 crore with total value of policies sold of 367.82 lakh that year.[citation needed]The company was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the private insurance industry in India. Over 245 insurance companies and provident societies were merged to create the state owned Life Insurance Corporation.[citation needed]Founding organisationsThe Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first company in India offering life insurance coverage, was established in Calcutta in 1818 by Bipin Behari Dasgupta and others. Its primary target market was the Europeans based in India, and it charged Indians heftier premiums.[3] Surendranath Tagore (son of Satyendranath Tagore) had founded Hindusthan Insurance Society, which later became Life Insurance Corporation.[4]The Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, formed in 1870, was the first native insurance provider. Other insurance companies established in the pre-independence era includedPostal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1 February 1884Bharat Insurance Company (1896)United India (1906)National Indian (1906)National Insurance (1906)Co-operative Assurance (1906)Hindustan Co-operatives (1907)Indian MercantileGeneral AssuranceSwadeshi Life (later Bombay Life)Sahyadri Insurance (Merged into LIC, 1986)The first 150 years were marked mostly by turbulent economic conditions. It witnessed, India's First War of Independence, adverse effects of the World War I and World War II on the economy of India, and in between them the period of world wide economic crises triggered by the Great depression. The first half of the 20th century also saw a heightened struggle for India's independence. The aggregate effect of these events led to a high rate of and liquidation of life insurance companies in India. This had adversely affected the faith of the general public in the utility of obtaining life cover.Nationalisation in 1955In 1955, parliamentarian Amol Barate raised the matter of insurance fraud by owners of private insurance agencies. In the ensuing investigations, one of India's wealthiest businessmen, Sachin Devkekar, owner of the Times of India newspaper, was sent to prison for two years.Eventually, the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act on June 19, 1956 creating the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which started operating in September of that year. It consolidated the life insurance business of 245 private life insurers and other entities offering life insurance services, this consisted of 154 life insurance companies, 16 foreign companies and 75 provident companies. The nationalisation of the life insurance business in India was a result of the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, which had created a policy framework for extending state control over at least seventeen sectors of the economy, including life insurance.Growth as a monoplyFrom its creation, the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which commanded a monopoly of soliciting and selling life insurance in India, created huge surpluses, and by 2006 was contributing around 7% of India's GDP.[citation needed]The Corporation, which started its business with around 300 offices, 5.7 million policies and a corpus of INR 45.9 crores (US$92 million as per the 1959 exchange rate of roughly INR5 for US$1),[5] had grown to 25,000 servicing around 350 million policies and a corpus of over INR800000 crore (US$130 billion) by the end of the 20th century.Liberalisation post 2000sIn August 2000, the Indian Government embarked on a program to liberalise the Insurance Sector and opened it up for the private sector. Ironically, LIC emerged as a beneficiary from this process with robust performance, albeit on a base substantially higher than the private sector.Products and services[edit]LIC offers a variety of insurance products to its customers such as insurance plans, pension plans, unit-linked plans, special plans and group schemes.[7]Operations[edit]Today,the LIC has 8 zonal offices, around 109 divisional offices, 2,048 branches and 992 satellite offices and corporate offices;[1] it also has 54 customer zones and 25 metro-area service hubs located in different cities and towns of India. It also has a network of 1,337,064 individual agents, 242 Corporate Agents, 79 Referral Agents, 98 Brokers and 42 Banks for soliciting life insurance business from the public.In 2013 the First Year Premium compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was 24.53% while Total Life Premium CAGR was 19.28% matching the growth of the life insurance industry and also outperforming general economic growth.[6]Life Insurance Corporation launches Jeevan LakshyaLife insurance corp of India (LIC) has launched Jeevan Lakshya, a participating non-linked plan. This offers a combination of protection and savings.This plan provides for annual income benefit aimed to fulfil the needs of the family, primarily for the benefit of children, in case of the demise of policyholder any time before maturity, and a lump sum amount payment at the time of maturity. The plan provides LICs Accidental Death and Disability Benefit Rider by payment of additional premium.The plan is available for ages 18 years to 50 years with option of choosing the policy term from 13 to 25 years. Minimum Basic Sum Assured is Rs 100,000 and further in multiples of Rs 10, 000. There is no limit for the maximum Basic Sum Assured.The plan has a limited premium paying term, where premium paying term is less than policy term by three years. This plan also has a loan facility.