LIC delays payments: survey

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Policy holders of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India have identified delays in payment of sum assured, clai...

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Policy holders of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India have identified delays in payment of sum assured, claim settlement, non-receipt of premium notice, late receipt of policy document and procedural bottlenecks as some of the problems faced by them, a recent survey has said.

There is also lack of awareness about the citizens’ charter launched by LIC and even the staff is not properly sensitised about the charter, the consumer survey revealed. The survey, conducted by several consumer groups under the Consumer Coordination Council (CCC), a national alliance of more than 42 consumer groups, said awareness regarding the charter is badly needed among the staff as well as policy holders. The charter launched in 1997 details the services and norms to be followed by LIC, the sole provider of life insurance in the country.

“The feedback on publicity measure resorted to by LIC did not arouse proper consumer response due to lack of knowledge regarding LIC’s policies,” said surveycoordinator Sunita Roy of CCC. It also said that rural people face more problems as agents very often do not maintain transparency in their dealings with them. Although majority of the branch managers were aware of the LIC charter, lower rung of officials were totally ignorant about the charter, the survey also said. "There are several thousand policies which lapse due to non-payment of premium and this amount never goes to the customers," Roy of CCC said.

"There is a huge unclaimed amount due to policy lapses with LIC and it should be spent for creating consumer awareness," she said. The survey also suggested measures like issue of pocket-size charter, creating awareness among agents about various policies and creation of effective complaint redressing mechanism.

LIC’s charter is also silent about the range of services being provided, it said, adding the organisation’s employees had not been involved in the preparation of the charter.