INDIA’S POST DEPARTMENT CRITICISED OVER LIFE SALES

INDIA’S Department of Post has been criticised for the falling numbers of postal life insurance purchases. A report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said short-falls in the saes of postal life insurance have grown to 41% in the 2006/2007 year from 14% four years earlier. The shortfall in rural postal life insurance was up to 27% from 16%, the report said. It noted that the annual growth in the number of PLI policies ranged between 4% and 8% during 2002-07, but said that apart from endowment assurance schemes - so-called Santosh products – postal life insurance products have not proved popular.