INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

- Insurance Industry includes two sectors-Life Insurance and General Insurance. Life insurance in India was introduced by Britishers. A British firm in 1818, established the Oriental Life Insurance Company at Calcutta now Kolkata.

- Since the opening up, the number of participants in the Insurance Industry has gone up from 7 insurers (including LIC, four public sector general insurers, one specialised insurer and the GIC as the national re-insurer) in 2000 to 49 as on 30th September, 2011.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

- LIC was established on 1st September, 1956, which set the pace for nationalisation of life insurance under the stewardship of CD Deshmukh. It has head office at Mumbai and eight zonal offices, the most recent being at Patna.

- IRDA The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has changed its name to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in December, 2014.

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC)

GIC was established on 1st January, 1973 with its four subsidiaries, viz (í) National Insurance Company Limited, Kolkata; (íí) The New India Assurance Company Limited, Mumbai; (ííí) The Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Limited New Delhi; and (ív) United India General Insurance Company Limited, Chennai.

Unit Trust of India

It was set up in 1964. It is a 20% subsidiary of IDBI and the rest 50% is subscribed to LIC, SBI, other scheduled banks, IFCI and ICICI. The government has split UTI into UTI-I and UTI-II. The UTI collects its funds through sale of units under its various scheme.