The Hindu Business Line : LIC open to choose partner for health insurance foray

LIFE Insurance Corporation of India is open to picking up partners for the joint venture planned for its foray into health insurance, according to its Chairman, Mr A.K. Shukla.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said it was not true that it had decided to tie up with a public sector insurance company for its health insurance foray. "It (the partner) is not necessarily a PSU. We are open in selecting the partner," he said.

He said players in the US and the UK developed expertise in this regard. "We will prefer to have a joint venture," he added.

He was here to inaugurate the new premises of LIC's Zonal Training Centre.

Mr Shukla said health was a risky proposition. "We have no proper data on health. We have no data to show how many days it will take to cure a particular disease. Pricing is very critical to it. There is no requisite skill to decide on the pricing. How to price the product is an important issue," he said.

The LIC has created a monitoring cell to look at the micro insurance opportunities. "We will design new policies in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 to cater to the segment," he said.

On the issue of market share, the LIC Chairman said there was a great scope for growth. As against the global average of 8.06 per cent and Asian average of six per cent for penetration, the insurance sector recorded just 2.8 per cent.

This showed that there was a good scope for growth.

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