Forget cash/cheques! LIC agents to get PoS machines for premium collection

In a big push to digital payment drive, LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) is planning to provide Point of Sale (PoS) machines to its lakhs of agents who collect around Rs 1.5 lakh crore premium annually.

"As part of the strategy for the less cash economy, LIC is also gearing up for providing PoS machines to its few lakhs active agents initially so that premium collection can be done in digitally," a senior official told ET.

The state-owned insurance behemoth is also looking at initiating Aadhaar-linked digital transactions, the official said, adding that this will help policy holders in the rural areas to avoid payment of premium in cash and cash handling burden of agents would come down significantly.

To begin with, LIC plans to provide PoS machines to about 1.5 lakh agents that would be ramped up in the future, the official added.

At the end of March 2016, there were 20.16 lakh agents of Life Insurance Corporation of India.

The Finance Ministry has also asked LIC to set up a robust cyber security cell so that there cannot be any cyber fraud.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced a raft of measures including discounts on online payments for insurance policies, rail tickets and highway toll charges as the government looked to promote digital cash post demonetisation.

As much as 10 per cent and 8 per cent discount has been offered in case of general and life insurance for buying new policy or paying premium online via PSUs websites.

LIC posted a 12.81 per cent growth in total assets to Rs 24.42 lakh crore during 9 months ended on December 31, 2016, compared to Rs 21.64 lakh crore in the same period previous year.

It also posted a growth of 12.43 per cent in total premium income at Rs 1,45,031 crore during the nine months to December 2016 as against Rs 1,29,001 crore for the corresponding period a year earlier.

With respect of new business premiums, LIC saw a 40.1 per cent growth for the 9-month period of the current fiscal, over the year-ago period. The insurer hopes to touch Rs 35,000 crore of new premiums by the end of March 2017.

(Image Credits: Indiatimes)