State life insurer pressured by competition

Foreign life insurance companies are stepping up their operations in India at the same time as the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India reports, for the very first time, a fall in its premium income. LIC’s income from the sale of single premium policies decreased by a staggering 78% to Rs7.2bn in the period between April and August, 2002. This compares to Rs32bn generated from single premium policies over the same period last year.