LIC To Employ 11 lakh More Agents By March 2011

Tuesday January 27, 01:36 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

LIC To Employ 11 lakh More Agents By March 2011

The size does matter when it comes to employment generation at a time when companies are wielding axe on jobs, as insurance giant LIC on Monday said it would employ 11 lakh more agents by March 2011 to double its field workforce.

"They (private insurers) are talking about 30,000. We are talking about 11-12 lakh and that is the difference. (In) three years, we want to double the number of agents," LIC chairman T S Vijayan said on comparison with private sector competitors in terms of hiring plans.

"We don't talk about thousands. We talk about lakhs. Last year, we ended with 11 lakh plus agents and we would like to increase it by a minimum 25 per cent by March, 2009. This is a target we have taken ourselves and I think we will be able to do it," he said.

During the current year, the country's largest insurer recruited about two lakh insurance agents across the length and breadth of the country. This excludes hiring plans for development officers, he clarified, saying that during the current financial year alone, LIC has recruited 4,500 officers and the next year the number could go up by up to 5,000. Currently, LIC has about 24,000 development officers across the country. To compete with LIC, private life insurers are also recruiting agents to expand their businesses and reach, but the numbers are much less than the largest player.

PTI

Satyam Board-Member Says LIC Likely To Give Funding

Tuesday January 27, 06:00 PM

Satyam Board-Member Says LIC Likely To Give Funding

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The new board of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services is arranging funds from banks and financial institutions, including state-run Life Insurance Corp, (LIC) to pay salaries and bills, board members said in webcasts.

"We will work out some working capital loans from bankers and some rupee term loan from financial institutions, particularly my own organisation," S. Balakrishnan, a senior official at India's largest insurer LIC and a member of the outsourcing firm's new government-appointed board, said in a webcast to employees.

A Satyam spokeswoman said the company had uploaded comments from the board member on the YouTube website. For webcast, see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL4Jm1lqOVM&feature=related

Satyam has been struggling for survival since Jan. 7 when founder Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman and revealed profits had been overstated for years and $1 billion in cash on the books did not exist.

"It is a huge liquidity crunch in the company and till the accounts are restated it is very difficult for banks to lend money," new board member and senior banker Deepak Parekh said on another webcast uploaded on the site.

"But we have made arrangements and I hope the money comes in the next few days so that payments are made on time."

Satyam's board is meeting on Tuesday. It was expected to discussing securing funds to pay salaries and bills and a shortlist of three candidates for chief executive and chief financial officer. On Friday it said it hoped to secure funds before Jan. 28 to tide it over until the end of March.

(For full coverage on Satyam click

http://in.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/satyamstory)

(For Quotes and Interactive Charts of Satyam Computer Services click

http://in.reuters.com/money/quotes/chart?symbol=SATY.BO)

Max India December-Quarter Loss Widens On Insurance Business

Wednesday January 28, 08:11 PM

Max India December-Quarter Loss Widens On Insurance Business

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hospital operator and life insurer Max India Ltd's consolidated net loss widened on increased investment for its insurance business, its chairman said on Wednesday.

Three-fourths of Max's revenue comes from its insurance joint venture with New York Life International, and this venture is required by law to maintain a portion of premiums as reserves.

This, along with a capital expenditure of 2.59 billion rupees during the December quarter, widened Max's loss in the period to 940 million rupees from 40 million rupees in the prior-year quarter, Chairman Analjit Singh said.

Operating revenue rose 24 percent to 11.34 billion rupees, Max said in a statement.

"That loss is all because of the insurance business," Singh told a news conference.

The firm has said it expects the insurance unit to break even by 2011/12, and officials on Wednesday backed the forecast.

"Break-even on the consolidated basis (for Max India) will go in tandem with break-even of the life insurance business, which will be in 2011/12. Carryforward losses will be wiped out by 2013/14," Mohit Talwar, director - business developement, said.

OUTLOOK

Analjit Singh said the economic turmoil would temper growth in its insurance business, forecasting a 45 percent growth in new business in the full year, compared with an earlier estimate of 65 percent.

First year premiums, or sales of new insurance policies, have grown 43 percent to 1.58 billion rupees in the nine months to December 31.

Max expects revenue of 50 billion rupees for the full year to March 31, and a loss of 5.5 billion rupees, Sujatha Ratnam, chief financial controller, said.

It has a capital expenditure plan of 7 billion rupees in 2009/10, compared with 7.5 billion rupees in the present financial year, she said.

Shares in the firm jumped 19 percent up after the results, before closing 15.6 percent higher on the day at 124.65 rupees. The broader market was up 2.81 percent.

Private Life Insurers Premium Rises 20%

Thursday January 29, 02:15 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Private Life Insurers Premium Rises 20%

The ongoing slowdown in the economy has hit the performance of many domestic life insurance companies. The statistics for the first nine months (Apr-Dec 2008-09) released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) reveals that the total premium of the 20 private sector life insurance companies at Rs 22,842, has gone up by 20 %, while the total premium of state owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at Rs 29,457 crore, has fallen by 15% during the period.

LIC has earned around Rs 8,000 crore of premium from one of its single premium products 'Jeevan Astha' whose sales was closed in December 21.

L&T Q3 Net Soars On One-Time Gain

Friday January 30, 01:40 PM

L&T Q3 Net Soars On One-Time Gain

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's largest engineering and construction firm, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, said on Friday quarterly net profit more than trebled, boosted by a one-time gain.

Net profit rose to 15.2 billion rupees ($310 million) in its fiscal third quarter ended December from 4.82 billion rupees in the year earlier period.

The profit included an extraordinary gain of 9.16 billion rupees from sale ready-mix concrete business.

Net sales rose to 85.94 billion rupees from 63.83 billion.

A Reuters poll of 10 brokerages had expected a net profit of 5.69 billion rupees, excluding one-time gains, on net sales of 80.95 billion.

Fidelity Raises Stakes In Satyam To 6.8%

Friday January 30, 02:50 PM

Fidelity Raises Stakes In Satyam To 6.8%

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services said on Friday asset manager Fidelity Investments had raised its holding to 6.79 percent in the Indian outsourcer, which would potentially make it the second largest stakeholder.

Fidelity, which held 3.17 percent, bought 3.62 percent on Wednesday, Satyam said in filing to the stock exchange.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, which trebled its holding in Satyam last week to 12 percent, is the largest stakeholder, exchange data showed.

Satyam has been struggling for survival after its founder quit as chairman this month disclosing profits were falsified for years.

Stock exchange data late on Wednesday showed two Fidelity funds had bought a 2.5 percent stake in Satyam in block deals for $18.7 million.