Abstract

The Indian life insurance industry has its own origin and history. Since its inception, it has passed through many obstacles, hindrances to attain its present status. The income earning capacity of an individual citizen of a nation and the eagerness and awareness of the general public are the two key determinants of the growth of any insurance industry. As a result, wider mass-employment opportunities and sound educational system should be made available. In addition, the general public must be kept abreast of more knowledge and importance of life insurance, as these steps help to boost the growth of insurance industries. In this Indian context, insurance habit among the general public during the independence decade was quite rare and in the following decades, it increased slowly. There was a remarkable improvement in the Indian insurance industry soon after the acceptance and adaptation of liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG) in the year 1991. After 1991, the Indian life insurance industry has geared up in all respects, as well as it being forced to face a lot of healthy competition from many national as well as international private insurance players. The fall in the savings rate and increased competition in the primary market and particularly the aggressive mobilization by the mutual fund posed serious challenges to LIC.

Key words: Life insurance, liberalization, globalization.