New Delhi: Insurance behemoth LIC witnessed a decline of nearly 20 per cent in death claims in the first quarter of this fiscal with the COVID impact seen to be ebbing, though the amount is still higher than pre-2020 levels, officials said. In the June quarter of the previous fiscal, settlement of death claims was to the tune of Rs 7,111 crore, which for Q1 of this year was Rs 5,743 crore, LIC Chairman M R Kumar said in a post-earnings call with analysts.
"So there is quite a decrease, and it's quite obvious that whatever decrease was there based on COVID... going away now, Q1 to Q1 of the previous year," Kumar said. The claim rates had been very stable before the pandemic, said Dinesh Pant, Executive Director and Appointed Actuary, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). He added that there was a spike in claims in the last two years due to COVID.