Usha Sangwan was appointed as the first woman
managing director of the Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC) by the Government.
She is the first woman director of LIC in its
near six decades of existence.
With this appointment, LIC is set to function
at its full strength of four MDs after almost two years. These would be S B
Mainak, Sushobhan Sarkar, Sangwan and V K Sharma.
About Usha
Sangwan :
Sangwan joined LIC in 1981 as a direct
recruit. She holds a master’s degree in economics and a post-graduate diploma
in human resource management.
About LIC:
LIC is India’s largest insurer, with 83 per
cent market share in terms of the number of policies, and 71 per cent in
premium.
Some of the
important milestones in the life insurance business in India are:
1818: Oriental Life Insurance Company, the
first life insurance company on Indian soil started functioning.
1870: Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society,
the first Indian life insurance company started its business.
1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act
enacted as the first statute to regulate the life insurance business.
1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act
enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about both
life and non-life insurance businesses.
1938: Earlier legislation consolidated and
amended to by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests
of the insuring public.
1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and
provident societies are taken over by the central government and nationalised.
LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital
contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the Government of India.
The General insurance business in India, on
the other hand, can trace its roots to the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established
in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.
Some of the
important milestones in the general insurance business in India are:
1907: The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd.
set up, the first company to transact all classes of general insurance
business.
1957: General Insurance Council, a wing of
the Insurance Association of India, frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair
conduct and sound business practices.
1968: The Insurance Act amended to regulate
investments and set minimum solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee
set up.
1972: The General Insurance Business
(Nationalisation) Act, 1972 nationalised the
general insurance business in India with
effect from 1st January 1973.
107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into
four companies viz. the National
Insurance Company Ltd., the New India
Assurance Company Ltd., the
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the
United India Insurance Company
Ltd. GIC incorporated as a company.