INDIA'S LIFE INSURANCE CORP TO INVEST US$13BLN IN EQUITY MKT

Unfazed by controversy surrounding its housing finance arm, India's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) plans to pump in about Rs 61,000 crore (US$13.61 billion) in the equity market during this fiscal year.

"This year we are likely to invest around Rs Rs 61,000 crore (in the equity market)," LIC managing director Thomas Mathew told PTI.

Increase in exposure to equity market secondary or primary market would depend on market condition, he said.

"We hold shares for long term. Whether it's down or up it's opportunity for us," he said.

"Now it's (market) up so we have booked profit. Already this year we have made good profits. Last year, total profit by churning portfolio was Rs 9,400 crore full year," he said.

However, during this year till mid-October LIC has earned Rs 12,000 crore by churning portfolio, he added.

During the first seven months (April-October period) of the current fiscal year, LIC has breached the Rs 50,000 crore mark.

LIC's new premium stood at Rs 50,605 crore compared to Rs 30,469 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 66 per cent.

Overall, the life insurance industry mopped up new premium of Rs 69,706 crore during April-October this year, up from Rs 46,689 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal year.

The 22 private life insurers have collected Rs 19,099 crore in the first seven months of 2010-11, up from Rs 16,217 crore in the same period last fiscal year.

Last week, LIC played down Rs 14,000 crore deficit in three of its schemes, saying that the gap is notional and it had a surplus of Rs 24,000 crore in the previous fiscal year.

"Last year, our surplus was Rs 24,000 crore. It (Rs 14,000 crore) is a notional and acturial deficit in particular schemes. Overall, we are very strong," LIC Chairman T.S Vijayan had said.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had earlier launched a probe to ascertain whether LIC had violated rules by transferring profits of one scheme to another to cover up the losses in some of its funds.

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) manages assets worth over Rs 12 lakh crore.

IRDA was investigating the books of LIC for 2009-10 and initial inspection revealed that there was a valuation deficit of around Rs 14,000 crore in three plans of its guaranteed-return annuity policies Jeevan Dhara, Jeevan Suraksha and Jeevan Akshay.