LIC at 70: Insurance major Life Insurance Corporation of India has entered into its 70th year with a renewed push for digital transformation, policyholder value and regulatory alignment.

From the launch of the MyLIC app to data-driven decision-making and evolving insurance distribution models, LIC lays out how it is balancing its legacy with a technology-led future.

In an exclusive interaction with ET NOW, LIC CEO and MD R Doraiswamy discussed the company's roadmap covering AI-led transformation, distribution reforms, risk-based capital norms and expansion of government-backed insurance schemes like PMJJBY.

The discussion also covered bonus announcements, dividend outlook, and the broader vision of "Insurance for All by 2047."

What's on the card for policyholders?

"When we celebrate our 70th anniversary on September 1, it will be too early to think of something more in terms of dividend but we can think of what we can do for the policy holders. We can come up with some initiatives for the policy holders which can be some new product launches or which can be some new additional service benefit," said Doraiswamy.

Digital transformation push

LIC CEO told ET NOW that the insurance giant's focus has now been to build basic features required for its customer to completely take care of their policy
portfolio life cycle.

"From whatever earlier platforms we had, a new layer of engagement has been created on which our new digital offerings will be based. We have also been building a data lake for analytics based decision making and using advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning for all these," Doraiswamy said.

LIC Q4

LIC has posted a 23 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 23,420 crore in the March quarter, helped by core business and return on investment.

The country's biggest insurer had earned a profit of Rs 19,013 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

The total income of the insurer during the reporting quarter rose to Rs 2,53,592 crore from Rs 2,22,805 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal year, LIC said in a regulatory filing.

LIC's income from first-year premium also improved to Rs 12,970 crore in the latest January-March quarter against Rs 11,069 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal year.

Income from renewal premiums in the reporting period increased to Rs 81,933 crore compared to Rs 79,138 crore a year ago.

During the quarter, total income increased to Rs 1,64,691 crore as against Rs 1,47,586 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Commenting on quarterly numbers, Doraiswamy said the reduction in GST has helped the business to grow during FY26.

The government brought down the GST on individual health and life insurance premiums from 18 per cent to nil, effective September 22, 2025.

Besides, he said, "Our strategy of channel diversification has been successful with our Banca and Alternate Channels (BAC) having recorded a growth rate of more than 45 per cent with premium from BAC exceeding Rs 5,000 crores in FY26." Value of New Business (VNB) growth has been in excess of 41 per cent, he said.

During the financial year ended March 2026, LIC earned a profit of Rs 57,419 crore, up 19 per cent from Rs 48,151 crore in the previous fiscal year.

Total income during the financial year rose to Rs 9,73,288 crore as against Rs 8,84,148 crore in the previous financial year.

The total premium income improved to Rs 5,35,984 crore as compared to Rs 4,88,148 crore for the year ended March 31 2025, registering a growth of 9.8 per cent.

In terms of market share measured by First Year Premium Income (FYPI) (as per IRDAI), LIC continues to be the market leader by market share in the Indian life insurance business with an overall market share of 56.66 per cent for FY26 as compared to 57.05 per cent for FY25.

For the year ended March 31 2026, LIC had a market share of 36.6 per cent in the individual business and 70.11 per cent in the group business.

A total of 1,84,41,175 policies were sold in the individual segment as compared to 1,77,82,975 policies sold during the year ended March 31, 2025, registering an increase of 3.7 per cent.

The Solvency Ratio increased to 2.35 as against 2.11 as on March 31, 2025.

The Value of New Business (VNB) for the year ended March 2026 was Rs 14,179 crore as compared to Rs 10,011 crore in FY25, registering a growth of 42 per cent.

The net VNB margin for FY26 increased by 360 bps to 21.2 per cent as compared to 17.6 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2025.

(With PTI inputs)