Customer Satisfaction in LIC

Contents

Introduction and objective

Industry profile

Company profile

Subject matter Introduction of topic

Research methodology

Data analysis and interpretation

Conclusion

Recommendation

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTIONLIFE INSURANCE IN INDIA

Life insurance in India made its debut well over 100 years ago.In our country,

which is one of the most populated in the world, the prominence of insurance is not

as widely understood, as it ought to be. What follows is an attempt to acquaint

readers with some of the concepts of life insurance, with special reference to LIC.

It should, however, be clearly understood that the following content is by no means

an exhaustive description of the terms and conditions of an LIC policy or Its

benefits or privileges.

For more details, please contact our branch or divisional office. Any LIC Agent

will be glad to help you choose the life insurance plan to meet your needs and

render policy servicing.

What Is Life Insurance?

Life insurance is a contract that pledges payment of an amount to the person

assured (or his nominee) on the happening of the event insured against.

The contract is valid for payment of the insured amount during:

The date of maturity, or

Specified dates at periodic intervals, or

Unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.

Among other things, the contract also provides for the payment of premium

periodically to the Corporation by the policyholder. Life insurance is universally

acknowledged to be an institution, which eliminates 'risk', substituting certainty

for uncertainty and comes to the timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event

of death of the breadwinner. By and large, life insurance is civilization’s partial

solution to the problems caused by death. Life insurance, in short, is concerned

with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every person:

1. That of dying prematurely leaving a dependent family to fend for itself.

2. That of living till old age without visible means of support.

Customer satisfied with LIC service because the LIC totally concentrate

customer relations and it makes customers attract towards the LIC

LIC moves towards better customer relations

Plans to start a new portal for its policyholders

Our Regional Bureau / Hyderabad September 07, 2005

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is embarking on a number of customer relationship management initiatives to retain its foothold in the market, in the wake of private players inching their way up in the life insurance sector. The Insurance behemoth is planning to tie-up with a number of banks to enable a payment gateway wherein the policyholders can make their premium payments via credit cards. LIC is planning to start a new portal for its policyholders where a customer can log in, get details on his/her policies, change the resident address when he/she shifts to a new place and even take a printout of the income tax certificate. The portal is likely to be ready in a month’s time. Besides, it has already started work on allotment of customer folio number to know each customer's holding. 

“The allotment of customer folio number for all our holders will still take a year’s time in this zone,” H Nanda, regional manager, information technology, LIC (south-central zone), said. “The electronic clearance system that we have launched at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, has been doing very well. Here the customer’s premium is automatically debited from his account at the time of payment,” he added. Shortly, the zone will also see the launch of this system in Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli. “This month, we will also be setting up five satellite branches in the zone, with two being in Hyderabad and three in Bangalore,” A K Sahoo, regional manager (marketing), LIC (south-central zone), said at a press conference organised on the occasion of the beginning of the golden jubilee year for LIC. Regarding the recently launched Bima Gold policy, a money-back policy with premium payment options, the corporation plans to sell 15 lakh policies this year in the south central zone with the national figure being one crore. LIC also plans to launch three-four products this year with one of these being unit-linked insurance plan in October. As on August 31, 2005, the zone has issued 12,47,795 policies under new business.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to carry on brief study on “Customer

satisfaction survey on insurance products of LIC Other objectives of this project

are as follows:

To identify the insurance needs of the Indian population with

respect to their emotional, physical and financial conditions.

Comparative study of various insurance players in the market

To study the varied reasons of availing life insurance plans

To clearly understand the rationale behind the investment in policies of LIC

and private sector insurance companies

To test the awareness of customers on various aspects of life insurance

policies offered by LIC and other private sector insurance companies and

find whether there is any relation between them.

The prime objective of the study is to find out the level of satisfaction of a

customer (policy holders or beneficiary) so far as the settlement of claims.

To find out the procedure of claim policy holder or the beneficiary

Industry profile

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England in the year1818. Oriental Life Insurance Company stated by Europeans in Calcutta was the first life insurance company on Indian Soil. All the insurance companies established during that period were brought up with the purpose of looking after the needs of European community and Indian natives were not being insured by these companies.However, later with the efforts of eminent people like Babu Muttylal Seal, the foreign life insurance companies started insuring Indian lives. But Indian lives were being treated as sub-standard lives and heavy extra premiums were being changed on them.Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society heralded the birth of first Indian lifeinsurance company in the year 1870, and covered Indian lives at normal rates.Starting as Indian enterprise with highly patriotic motives, insurance companies came tito existence to carry the message of insurance and social security through insurance to various sectors of society. Bharat Insurance Company (1896) was also one of such companies inspired by natioalism. the Swadeshi movement of 1905-1907 gavwe rise to more insurance companies. The United India in Madras, National Indian and National Insurance in Calcutta and the Hindustan Co-operative Insurance Company took its birth in one of the rooms of the Jorasanko, house of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, in Calcutta. The Indian Mercantile, General Assurance and Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) were some of the companies established during the same period. Prior to 1912. India had no legislation to regulate insurance business.In the year 1912, the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the Provident Fund Act were passed. The Life Insurance Companies Act, 1912 made it necessary that the premium rate tables and periodical valuations of companies should be certified by an actuary.But the act discriminated between foreign and Indian companies on many accounts, putting the Indian companies at a disadvantage.The first two decades of the twentieth century saw lot of growth in insurance

business. From 44 companies with total business-in force as Rs. 22.44 crore, it rose to 176 companies with total business-in-force as Rs. 298 crore in 1938. During themushrooming of insurance companies many financially unsound concerns were also floated which failed miserably. The Insurance Act 1938 was the first legislation governing not only life insurance but also non-life insurance to provide strict state control over insurance business. The demand for nationalization of life insurance industry was made repeatedly in the past but it gathered momentum in 1944 when a bill to amend the Life Insurance Act 1938 was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. However, it was much later on the 19th of January, 1956, that life insurance in India was nationalized. About 154 Indian insurance companies, 16 non-Indian companies and 75 provident were operating in India at the time of nationalization, nationalization was accomplished in two stages; initially the management of the companies was taken over by means of an Ordinance, and later, the ownership too by means of a comprehensive bill. The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance Corporation Act on the 19th of June 1956, and the Life Insurance Corporation of India was created on 1st September, 1956, with the objective of spreading life insurance much more widely and in particular to the rural areas with a view to reach all insurable persons in the country, providing them adequate financial cover at a reasonable cost. LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices, apart from its corporate office in the year 1956. Since life insurance contracts are long term contracts and during the currency of the policy it requires a variety of services need was felt in the later years to expand the operations and place a branch office at each district headquarter, re-organization of LIC took place and large numbers of new branch offices were opened. As a result of re-organization servicing functions were transferred to the branches, and branches were made accounting units. It worked wonders with the performance of the corporation. It may be seen that from about 200.00 crores of New Business in 1957 the corporation crossed 1000.00 crores only in the year 1969-70, and it took another 10 years for LIC to cross 2000.00 crore mark of new business. But with re-organization happening in the early eighties, by 1985-86 LIC had already crossed 7000.00 crore Sum Assured on new policies.Today LIC functions with 2048 fully computerized branch offices, 100divisional offices, 7 zonal offices and the corporate office. LIC’s Wide Area Network covers 100 divisional offices and connects all the branches through a

Metro Area Network. LIC has tied up with some Banks and Service providers to offer on-lint premium collection facility in selected cities. LIC’s ECS and ATM premium payment facility is an addition to customer convenience. Apart from on-line Kiosks and IVRS,Info Centres have been commissioned at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and many other cities. With a vision of providing easy access to its policyholders, LIC has launched its SATELLITE SAMPARK offices. The satellite offices are smaller, leaner and closer to the customer. The digitalized records of the satellite offices will facilitate anywhere servicing and many other conveniences in the future.

LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer even in theliberalized scenario ofIndian insurance and is moving fast on a new growth trajectory surpassing its ownpast records. LIC has issued over one crore policies during the current year. It hascrossed the milestone of issuing 1,01,32,955 new policies by 15th Oct, 2005, posting a healthy growth rate of 16.67% over the corresponding period of the previous year.From then to now, LIC has crossed many milestones and has set unprecedentedperformance records in various aspects of life insurance business. The same motives which inspired our forefathers to bring insurance into existence in this country inspire us at LIC to take this message of protection to light the lamps of security in as many homes as possible and to help the people in providing security to their families.

Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business in India are:1818: Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first life insurance company on Indiansoil 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 toregulate the life insurance business.1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government tocollect 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 thecentral government and nationalized. 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.

Life insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

The Life insurance Corporation was established about 44 years ago with a view to

provide an insurance cover against various risks in life. A monolith then, the

corporation, enjoyed a monopoly status and become synonymous with life

insurance. Its main asset is its staff strength of 1.24 lakhs employed and 2,048

branches and over six-lakhs agency force.

LIC has hundred divisional offices and has established extensive training facility at

all levels. At the apex, is the Management Development Institute, seven zonal

Training Centre and 35 sales Training Centers. At the industry level, along with the

Government and the GIC, it has helped establish the National Insurance Academy.

It presently transacts individual Life Insurance business, group Insurance business,

social security schemes and Pensions, grants housing loans through its subsidiary.

And the markets savings and Investment products through its mutual fund. It pays

off about Rs 6,000 crores annually to5.6 million policyholders

LIC OPERATES ALL OVER INDIA

Company profile

Type: Public limited company or Government-owned corporation

Founded: September 1, 1956

Headquarters: Headquarters in Mumbai, India (Various other locations in

India and abroad)

Key people: T. S. Vijayan (Chairman), D. K. Mehta and Thomas Mathew

(Managing Directors)

Industry: Life insurance

Products: Insurance and Pension Plans

Employees: Over 10,00,000

Parent: NIL

Subsidiaries: LIC Housing Finance Limited, etc.

Website: http://www.licindia.com

OBJECTIVES OF LIC

Spread Life Insurance widely and in particular to the rural areas and to the

socially and economically backward classes with a view to reaching

allinsurable persons in the country and providing them adequate financial

cover against death at a reasonable cost.

Maximize mobilization of people’ savings by making insurance-linked

savings adequately attractive.

Bear in mind, in the investment of funds, the primary obligation to its

policyholders, whose money it holds in trust, without losing sight of the

interest of the community as a whole; the funds to be deployed to the best

advantage of the investors as well as the community as a whole, keeping in

view national priorities and obligations of attractive return.

Conduct business with utmost economy and with the full realization that

moneys belong to the policyholders.

Act as trustees of the insured public in their individual and collective

capacities.

Meet the various life insurance needs of the community that would arise in

the changing social and economic environment.

Involve all people working in the Corporation to the best of their capability

in furthering the interests of the insured public by providing efficient service

with courtesy.

Promote amongst all agent and employees of the corporation a sense of

participation, pride and job towards achievement of Corporate objective.

MISSION/VISION

Mission“Explore and enhance the quality of life of people through financial security by

providing products and services of aspired attributes with competitive returns, and

by rendering resources for economic development.”

Vision

“A trans-nationally competitive financial conglomerate of significance to societies

and Pride of India.”

LIC of India is the one and only public sector life insurance Company in India.

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.

Products Of LIC:

LIC – Jeevan Anurag

Benefits:

LIC’s Jeevan ANURAG is a with profits plan specifically designed to take care of

the educational needs of children. The plan can be taken by a parent on his or her

own life. Benefits under the plan are payable at prespecified durations irrespective

of whether the Life Assured survives to the end of the policy term or dies during

the term of the policy. In addition, this plan also provides for an immediate

payment of Basic Sum Assured amount on death of the Life Assured during the

term of the policy.

Assured Benefit:

Payment of 20% of the Basic Sum Assured at the start of every year during last 3

policy years before maturity. At maturity, 40% of the Basic Sum Assured along

with reversionary bonuses declared from time to time on full Sum Assured for the

full term and the Terminal bonus, if any shall be payable. For example, if term of

the policy is 20 years, 20% of the Sum assured will be payable at the end of the

17th, 18th, 19th year and 40% of the Sum Assured along with the reversionary

bonuses and the terminal bonus, if any, at the end of the 20th year.

Death Benefit:

Payment of an amount equal to Sum Assured under the basic plan immediately on

the death of the life assured.

LIC - Jeewan Kisore

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance Plan available for children of less than 12 years

of age. The policy may be purchased by any of the parent/grand parent.

Commencement of risk cover:

The risk commences either after 2 years from the date of commencement of policy

or from the policy anniversary immediately following the completion of 7 years of

age of child, whichever is later.

Premiums:

Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly throughout the

term of the policy or till earlier death of child.

Bonuses:

This is a with-profits plan and participates in the profits of the Corporation’s life

insurance business.  It gets a share of the profits in the form of bonuses. Simple

Reversionary Bonuses are declared per thousand Sum Assured annually at the end

of each financial year.  Once declared, they form part of the guaranteed benefits of

the plan. A Final (Additional) Bonus may also be payable provided policy has run

for certain minimum period.

LIC – Childs Career Plan

Introduction: This plan is specially designed to meet the increasing educational and other needs

of growing children. It provides the risk cover on the life of child not only during

the policy term but also during the extended term (i.e. 7 years after the expiry of

policy term). A number of Survival benefits are payable on surviving by the life

assured to the end of the specified durations.

Options:

You may choose Sum Assured (S.A.), Maturity Age, Policy Term, Mode of

Premium payment and Premium Waiver Benefit.

Payment of Premium:

You may pay the premiums regularly at yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or through

Salary deductions over the term of policy. Premiums may be paid either for 6

years or up to 5 years before the policy term.

 LIC - Jeevan Chhaya

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance plan that provides financial protection against

death throughout the term of the plan. Besides payment of Sum Assured

immediately on death, one-fourth of Sum Assured is payable at the end of each of

last four years of policy term whether the life assured dies or survives the term of

the policy.

Premiums:

Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly or through salary

deductions as opted by you throughout the term of the policy or till the earlier

death.

LIC - Child Future Plan

Introduction:

This plan is specially designed to meet the increasing educational, marriage and

other needs of growing children. It provides the risk cover on the life of child not

only during the policy term but also during the extended term (i.e. 7 years after

the expiry of policy term). A number of Survival benefits are payable on surviving

by the life assured to the end of the specified durations.

Options:

You may choose Sum Assured (S.A.), Maturity Age, Policy Term, Mode of

Premium payment and Premium Waiver Benefit.

Payment of Premiums:

You may pay the premiums regularly at yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or through

Salary deductions over the term of policy. Premiums may be paid either for 6

years or up to 5 years before the policy term.

LIC - Jeevan Shree

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance plan offering the choice of many convenient

premium-paying terms. It provides financial protection against death throughout

the term of plan with the payment of maturity amount on survival to the end of the

policy term.

Premiums:

Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly or through Salary

deductions, as opted by you, throughout the premium paying term or till earlier

death. Alternatively premium may be paid in one lump sum.

Guaranteed Additions :

The policy provides for the Guaranteed Additions at the rate of Rs. 50/- per

thousand Sum Assured for each completed year for first five years of the policy.

LIC - The Whole Life Policy

This plan is mainly devised to create an estate for the heirs of the policyholder as the plan basically provides for payment of sum assured plus bonuses on the death of the policyholder. However, considering the increased longevity of the Indian population, the Corporation has amended the above provision, thereby providing for payment of sum assured plus bonuses in the form of maturity claim on completion of age 80 years or on expiry of term of 40 years from date of commencement of the policy whichever is later.The premiums under the policy are payable up to age 80 years of the policyholder or for a term of 35 years whichever is later. If the payment of premium ceases after 3 years, a paid-up policy for such reduced sum assured will be automatically secured provided the reduced sum

assured exclusive of any attached bonus is not less than Rs.250/-. Such reduced paid-up policy is not entitled to participate in the bonus declared thereafter but the bonuses already declared on the policy will remain attach, provided the policy is converted in to a paid-up policy after the premiums are paid for 5 years.

LIC – Amulya Jeevan : On Death during the Term of the Policy: Sum Assured

On Maturity: Nil

RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS

Minimum age at entry: 18 years (completed)

Maximum age at entry : 60 years (nearest birthday)

Maximum age at maturity : 70 years (nearest birthday)

Minimum Policy Term : 5 years

Maximum Policy term : 35 years

Minimum Sum Assured : Rs.25,00,000/-

Maximum Sum Assured : No Upper Limit

(Policies will be issued in multiples of Rs.100,000/- for Sums Assured

more than the minimum Sum Assured)

Mode of premium payment : Yearly, Half-yearly & Single Premium

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF LIC

Chairman

Managing Director

Executives Directors

Chiefs

Zonal Managers

Regional Managers

Divisional Managers

100 Seniors Divisional Managers

Marketing Managers

Sales Managers

Senior Branch Managers (Head of the Branch)

Assistant Branch Managers Sells

Development Officers

Different Agen

PUBLIC RELATION DEPARTMENT

The Public Relation Department in LIC is divided into three majorcategories. Namely:

1. Communication Department2. Crisis Management Department3. Publicity Department

Chief Public Relation Officer

PRO (Communication Dept.)

PRO (Crisis Management Dept.)

PRO (Publicity Dept.)

CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER

The Chief Public Relation Officer of LIC is Mr. M. V. Kulkarni. He heads the

PR department. The above three committees are under the PRO. The PRO is

responsible for the overall functioning of the PR department. He has to monitor

the smooth functioning of the three departments.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER :-

1. PR represents whole organization.

2. Should know how to behave in a certain situation.

3. He is not a person, he is representative.

4. Should know how to create enthusiasm.

5. In crisis he has to give feedback as soon as possible.

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS OF CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER:-

The PRO is directly answerable to the Chairman Shri. T.S. Vijayan.

The PRO looks after all the activities of the three departments all over

India.

Also he has to keep in close touch with the over-seas PR departments

of LIC.

All the policies implemented in India are informed to other PROs of the

over-seas branches of LIC.

The PRO monitors the norms and values of all the branches.

The new rules and regulations in India are informed to the PROs of the

over-seas branches.

The PRO also holds regular workshops for the top management

employees to motivate them to lift the spirit of the work culture.

The PRO also has to provide information about latest policies to the

communication department and ask them to public or air it through

various mediums.

Since a major share of workload of LIC is in the public sector, the PRO

has to look after social responsibility as well as maintaining the image of the

company.

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT

The PRO of this Department is an external PR.

He looks after:-

Arranging press conferences, press releases and is in constant contact

with the media.

He is also responsible for monitoring the overseas communications.

The Communication Department PRO has to make arrangements for the

guests and their overall honors. The conversations with the guests are

directly done by the Communication Department PRO.

The PRO from this department should always keep a close eye on the

latest happenings in the market. Any social issue at any area is a news to

be worked out for him.

He reports directly to the Chief PRO of the company.

The Press conference usually includes the CEO of the company, the Chief

PRO and the Communication Dept. PRO.

If the case is of crisis, then only is the Crisis management Dept PRO

present for the Press conference.

Since LIC is closely related with the Public Sector, the Communication

Dept. PRO has to also be in a close contact with the government officials.

He also has to motivate the employees in his department for constant

progress in the strategies for communication.

In short, the communication Department PRO ensures that there is no

communication gap between the company and the external concerned

bodies.

(recent press releases of LIC issued by Communication Department PRO

enclosed)….

CRISIS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

The PRO in this department is an internal one. From the overall history of

LIC, it is seen that the company has never been into any major crisis. This itself

is one of the best achievements. He is answerable to the Chief Public Relation

Officer. The PRO from crisis management, though is here to handle crisis, he has

been assigned many other internal responsibilities.

Motivating the lower employees, sales executives and sales and

marketing employees.

Building up a smooth communication between the Blue Collar and the

White Collar.

Arranging small workshops for all the employees.

He also has to know the issues going within the other departments so that

these issues are solved before they create crisis.

The strategy used by the PR here for crisis management is:-

“Wash the utensil before having food in it.”

Thus all the employees right from the day of joining are kept in close

contact with the Crisis Management Dept. And regular workshops help to restrict

cases like Corruption. With a company so closely associated with the

government, restricting such practices is very difficult task.

PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT

The PRO of the publicity Department is an External PR.

This department was formed due to the fall of sales in the 1999. This fall was due

to the emergence of the foreign insurance companies and their advertising

strategies. Initially, the ads shown by LIC always said “no worry even after

death”. All the ads portrayed death. The other insurance companies came up

with the idea that insurance is for happy life. Thus the sales of LIC went down as

people liked the idea of Life more than Death.

Hence a separate publicity department was formed which worked only for

publicity strategies. Initially it was looked up by the Communication Department.

Today the publicity department PRO has to see to it that all the ads running are

creating effect. The PRO is the one who along with the Marketing department

looks after the strategies for publicity. He is also to carry out various campaigns.

The very recent campaign is known as “Zindagi Express”.

The Zindagi Express is a term that has been associated to the life of LIC.

Just as humans celebrate their 50 years of life, even LIC is celebrating its life.

and when any person has done a lot in his life, he is capable of writing an

Autobiography. Thus Zindagi Express is an Autobiography by LIC.

They had started this unique campaign of auto biography from Delhi and

will cover the entire nation and end up in Delhi again. During this journey they

explain what all LIC has done for publics and what all it still intends to do

To satisfy the consumers in lic they make effective public

relations and consumer relations

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS OF LIC A proper S.W.O.T. analysis of LIC has also

been conducted to know better about the position, growth, and upcoming future

and prospective of the company.

STRENGTHS:

LIC is on 1st rank among the Insurance player.

Long-term plans of LIC are the main strength.

After sales services.

Products cost are very low.

Customer does not believe on private company.

WEAKNESS:

Low interest rate

OPPORTUNITIES:

Good brand promotion.

1/2nd- % insurance has been covered.

THREATS:

Competitors.

Entry of Private Insurance banks.

Subject matter

Introduction of topic

What is customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction refers to how satisfied customers are with the

products or services they receive from a particular agency. The level of

satisfaction is determined not only by the quality and type of customer

experience but also by the customer’s expectations.

A customer may be defined as someone who:

• has a direct relationship with, or is directly affected by your agency and

receives or relies on one or more of your agency’s services or

products. Customers in human services are commonly referred to as

service users, consumers or clients.

• An organization with a strong customer service culture places the

customer at the centre of service design, planning and service

delivery. Customer centric organizations will:

• determine the customers expectations when they plan

• listen to the customer as they design

• focus on the delivery of customer service activities

• Value customer feedback when they measure performance.

Why is it important?

There are a number of reasons why customer satisfaction is important in

Insurance Sector:

• Meeting the needs of the customer is the underlying rationale for the

existence of community service organizations. Customers have a right to

quality services that deliver outcomes.

• Organizations that strive beyond minimum standards and exceed the

expectations of their customers are likely to be leaders in their

sector.

• Customers are recognized as key partners in shaping service

development and assessing quality of service delivery.

The process for measuring customer satisfaction and obtaining feedback on

organizational performance are valuable tools for quality and

continuous service improvement.Customer satisfaction, a sinebuss term, is a

measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass

customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and

is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key

element of business strategy.[1]

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of

customer satisfaction for firms.

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers;[2].

Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the

organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the

state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to

product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both

psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors

such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary

depending on other factors the customer, such as other products against which the

customer can compare the organization's products.

Customer Satisfaction in 7 Steps in LIC

It's a well-known fact that no business can exist without customers. In the business of Website design, it's important to work closely with your customers to make sure the site or system you create for them is as close to their requirements as you can manage. Because it's critical that you form a close working relationship with your client, customer service is of vital importance. What follows are a selection of tips that will make your clients feel valued, wanted and loved.

1 . Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings

This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer.

If you're not used to this sort of thing it can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience.

Rest assured, though, it does get easier over time. It's important to meet your

customers face to face at least once or even twice during the course of a project.

My experience has shown that a client finds it easier to relate to and work with someone they've actually met in person, rather than a voice on the phone or someone typing into an email or messenger program. When you do meet them, be calm, confident and above all, take time to ask them what they need. I believe that if a potential client spends over half the meeting doing the talking, you're well on your way to a sale.

2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed

This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for a

response to an email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all

customers' queries within the space of a few hours, but at least email or call them

back and let them know you've received their message and you'll contact them

about it as soon as possible. Even if you're not able to solve a problem right away,

let the customer know you're working on it.

A good example of this is my Web host. They've had some trouble with server

hardware which has caused a fair bit of downtime lately. At every step along the

way I was emailed and told exactly what was going on, why things were going

wrong, and how long it would be before they were working again. They also

apologised repeatedly, which was nice. Now if they server had just gone down

with no explanation I think I'd have been pretty annoyed and may have moved my

business elsewhere. But because they took time to keep me informed, it didn't seem

so bad, and I at least knew they were doing something about the problems. That to

me is a prime example of customer service.

3. Be Friendly and Approachable

A fellow Site Pointer once told me that you can hear a smile through the phone.

This is very true. It's very important to be friendly, courteous and to make your

clients feel like you're their friend and you're there to help them out. There will be

times when you want to beat your clients over the head repeatedly with a blunt

object - it happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear head, respond to your

clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and courteous.

4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy

This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a clearly defined

customer service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

If a customer has a problem, what should they do? If the first option doesn't work,

then what? Should they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries?

If they're not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should they

tell?

There's nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to

person, or not knowing who to turn to. Making sure they know exactly what to do

at each stage of their enquiry should be of utmost importance. So make sure your

customer service policy is present on your site -- and anywhere else it may be

useful.

5. Attention to Detail (also known as 'The Little Niceties')

Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were

a client of? Have you ever had a personalised sign-up confirmation email for a

service that you could tell was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time

consuming and aren't always cost effective, but remember to do them.

Even if it's as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it's

something. It shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of

that screen or telephone; and most importantly, it makes the customer feel

welcomed, wanted and valued.

6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out

Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme level of

understanding with your clients will do wonders for your working relationship.

Take this as an example: you're working on the front-end for your client's exciting

new ecommerce endeavour. You have all the images, originals and files backed up

on your desktop computer and the site is going really well. During a meeting with

your client he/she happens to mention a hard-copy brochure their internal

marketing people are developing. As if by magic, a couple of weeks later a CD-

ROM arrives on their doorstep complete with high resolution versions of all the

images you've used on the site. A note accompanies it which reads:

"Hi, you mentioned a hard-copy brochure you were working on and I wanted to

provide you with large-scale copies of the graphics I've used on the site. Hopefully

you'll be able to make use of some in your brochure."

Your client is heartily impressed, and remarks to his colleagues and friends how

very helpful and considerate his Web designers are. Meanwhile, in your office, you

lay back in your chair drinking your 7th cup of coffee that morning, safe in the

knowledge this happy customer will send several referrals your way.

7. Honour Your Promises

It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message:

when you promise something, deliver. The most common example here is project

delivery dates.

Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not get done, or

you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late,

technology can fail and sub-contractors don't always deliver on time. In this case a

quick apology and assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go amiss.

Conclusion

Customer service, like any aspect of business, is a practiced art that takes time and

effort to master. All you need to do to achieve this is to stop and switch roles with

the customer. What would you want from your business if you were the client?

How would you want to be treated? Treat your customers like your friends and

they'll always come back.

Research Methodology :

Secondary data is collected from various bibliographical sources

such as journals, novels, magazines, publications and various

websites including the official website of LIC and various other

company websites. The published research reports and market

studies also helped the researcher to guage into the problem.

(This research is fully based on secondary data )

Chapter 8

DATA ANALYSIS

AND

INTERPRETATION

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

CUSTOMERS PRECEPTION TOWARDS SERVICES

LIC HDFC ICICI OTHRS

50% 30% 20% 10%

( LIC IS HAVE MORE CUSTOMERS RATHER THAN OTHERS)

CUSTOMERS RELATIONSHIP DEPARTMENTS

LIC HDFC ICICI OTHRS

40% 30% 20% 10%

(IN LIC CRM DEAPARMENTS MOST TO SATISFIED THE CUSTOMERS)

PUBLIC RELATIONS

LIC HDFC ICICI OTHRS

40% 30% 20% 10%

IN LIC MOSTLY CENCENTRATE ON PUBLIC RELATIONS

LIC POLICIES AND BETTER PLANS

LIC HDFC ICICI OTHRS

50% 30% 20% 10%

LIC IS ONE OF FIRST INSURANCE COMPANY WHICH PROVIDE MORE SERVICES

Project Analysis

The Positive side of LIC as well as Negative side of LIC. I encourage other readers

to correct me if I am wrong and also add light to any point that I may have missed.

First let’s talk about the Positive side of LIC

1. LIC is owned by the government and therefore it is the only company besides

the PPF that has the sovereign guarantee of the govt. of India. It is a different story

that today LIC has become so powerful that the govt. leans on LIC every time that

the Stock Market crashes. Imagine having an Asset base of over Rs 6 Lac Crore. .

That’s a 14 digit number! No company in India can boast of such figures. Mind

boggling.

2. LIC is the only Life Insurance Company making profits. Most of the Private

Insurers including the self proclaimed market leaders like ICICI and Bajaj Allianz

are booking heavy losses. Check IRDA website in the Annual Report column. The

point is that if an insurance company makes losses year over year, then how will

they manage to pay the Claim amount? After all no Insurance company is here to

do charity business.

3. When it comes to paying claims, again LIC is Number One with the claims

settlement ratio of more than 99%. Private Insurers cannot match LIC’s ability on

claims settlement. Again, please visit IrDA’s website to see the claims settlement

performance of various companies.

4. LIC has the world’s largest sales force, yes over 10 lac agents and now

universities in western countries are trying to study how a company managed to

appoint such a large sales force. A sales force of over 1 million! Truly a

remarkable achievement.

5. Many people argue that LIC has not been able to penetrate the market as it has

insured only 15% of the population. My point is, in a poor country like India where

there are so many people living below the poverty line, so many people who die of

starvation, so many people who don’t have access to basic medication, so many

people who don’t have basic necessities of life like food, shelter, education and

clothing. Will such a person first feed his children or buy Insurance ? Lets not

forget that a majority of the Indian population is poor and a substantial percentage

is living below the poverty line. At a personal level i feel that LIC has done a

satisfactory job of insuring people.

Recommendations

TO CONVERT ALL NEGATIVE POINT IN POSITIVE TO SIT IN FIRST LEVEL IN INSURANCE AREAS FOREVER AND IMPROVE Q.D.C

# NOW THE NEGATIVE POINTS OF LIC #

1. The Administrative staff in LIC is in deep slumber. Try writing a complaint to

them and they wont even bother to reply back. If you ask the Branch Manager for

the complaints book, he probably wont have it in place. If an Agent complains

against any staff,then the Agent is black listed and next time onwards his work is

not done.

2. In order to show a better performance & achieve branch Targets, Agents are

motivated by the Managers to split the policies. This not only adds to the

inconvinience of the policyholders but it also increases the expenses of LIC.

Competitions for Agents are held with Prizes being offered on the number of

policies sold and not on the number of lives insured.

Therefore many Agents are tempted to split the policies in order toget better prizes.

However if an agent wants the forms or sales literature, most of the time its out of

stock. But surprisingly just a week before any scheme is about to close, the office

is flooded with forms & sales literature. This is very disturbing.

3, As I earlier said, LIC is lacking in Effective Leadership in recent times.

Managers having designations like Marketing Manager or Sales Manager donot

have the capability to motivate an audience at a meeting. Yes this is true even in a

city like Mumbai. Even the Senior level managers cannot make effective

presentations or design a sales strategy. Their only mantra at an Agents meeting is

"Friends, bring more policies!’. If you ask them howto bring more policies, they

wont know. Its a pity !

4. Though LIC has more than 2000 branches, they are not systematically located.

In Mumbai’s Fort area, LIC has more than 20 branches within a radius of 1.5kms.

Whats the use ? In the suburbs where most of the people reside, there are no

branches at all. LIC has no branches in Bandra East, Khar East & West, Santacruz

East, Vile Parle East, Andheri West, Jogeshwari West,Mahim, Matunga, etc. If

LIC gives a thought to systematic relocation of its offices, it will immensly help

the policyholders.

5. Even though LIC claims to have taken several initiatives in the IT sector,

policyholders still face problems in revival of their policies, payment of premium

in several branches, change of mode, change of address, etc. The After-sales policy

services department needs to be revamped. Policyholders feel that LIC agents are

humble while selling a policy and thereafter they fail to provide any service to the

client. The truth is that LIC is so weak in policy services department, that even a

good agent finds it difficult to get the work done from the administrative staff.

To sum up, i would say that LIC will never cheat a Policyholder in payment of

claim, but at the same time everyone will agree that LIC is not responsive to the

needs of the customer. If you have purchased an LIC policies then dont forget to

pay the premium on time, and when your policy gets matured LIC will honestly

pay your Maturity amount on time.

The employees are sometimes rude in their behaviour with the Policyholder. If a

claim cheques is handed over by a courteous and smiling employee of LIC, it will

enhance the image of LIC in the mind of the policyholder.

Today LIC is not just an Insurance Company, LIC is a Movement, LIC is a Cult,

LIC is a Religion. Imagine 10 lac agents and 1 lac employees serving 16 crore

policyholders in India. You cannot deny that LIC has become the way of life in

India. Daily you can hear someone or the other talking of LIC in local trains, at

fish markets, at restaurants, on News Channels, in your own offices, etc.

As i earlier said, LIC has started lacking in effective leadership. If a company like

LIC starts sponsoring irrelevant awards like Zee Cine awards which it had done 2

years ago, then it will send the wrong message in the minds of the policyholders.

Imagine India’s most famous institution sponsoring a Cine Awards function stating

that it was done to increase the brand awareness of LIC. That sounded like a big

joke. It is time that the top level officials of LIC come out of their air-conditioned

cabins and travel by public transport for sometime in order to feel the pulse of the

common man.

Why LIC is trusted brand of India?

1. As a Govt of India owned Company, LIC is 51 + years old in the field of life

insurance and money management. LIC's Life Fund size as on day is more

than Rs 5 Lakh Thousand Crores !

2. Any LIC policyholder or the nominee will vouch for the best claims settlement

from LIC. Perhaps, this is the only institution where you as a policyholder are

virtually chased till such time your claim cheques is handed over to you !

3. LIC has won `NDTV Profit Leadership Award 2007 under Life Insurance

Category', `Outlook Money Award 2007 as the best Life Insurer', `CNBC

Awaaz Consumer Award 2007 as the best Life Insurance Company',

`Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governence 2007',

`Web 18 Genius of the Web Award 2007 and many more'.

4. LIC adjudged No.1 Trusted Service Brand for the 4th successive year by ET

Brand Equity Survey.

5. LIC has been adjudged Superbrand India for 2004-06 and Reader's Digest

`Trusted Brand' Asia 2007.

6. This is the only corporation that is catering to more than 190 million satisfied

policyholders in India and abroad.

7. This is one of the very few institutions that pays ex-gratia interest on

pending maturity claims !

8. More than 2050 LIC branches all over India are connected together to serve

you. You can pay your premium anywhere in the country.

9. During its long existence, LIC has kept on updating its portfolio by bringing in

new plans depending on public requirement. More than 50 of them are most

popular and can be customized to meet any of your requirements. LIC ULIPs

have become extremely popular due to the returns they offer. Money Pluslatest

LIC Unit Linked Plan is a case in point.

10. All LIC Plans come with Sovereign Guarantee i.e., Govt of India

Guarantee regarding repayment. Infact, as of now, only LIC plans enjoy

this Govt Guarantee. Beneficiary for this Sovereign Guarantee is you and

you alone as the policyholder/ would-be policyholder.

11. All LIC plans are characterized by low premium, high life insurance coverage

and a vast package of benefits offered by them. Add to this package, section

80C benefit and section 10(10D) benefit on the maturity proceeds, you will

find investment on LIC plans one of the most coveted investment options

available to you.

12. Premium paid under Key-Man Insurance plan is a recognized business

expense under section 37(I) of the Income-Tax Act. For companies making

profits, this is a very good incentive indeed.

13. Through Employer-Employee Insurance scheme, you can recognize the worth

of your most valuable employees whose absence you can ill afford to loose.

14. Entire contribution to LIC Group Gratuity Scheme is a recognized business

expense in the hands of the employer. In addition, through this scheme, the

employer can transfer his gratuity liability to the corporation and fund the

same under cash accumulation scheme. The most popular among all the

companies.

15. LIC is declaring quite an impressive bonus (profits) on all its with-profits

policies every year. Extra attraction under LIC Bonus is (a) it is calculated

every year on the insured amount and not on the premium paid and (b) entire

bonus received along with insured amount either by you on maturity of your

policy(ies) or by your nominee in your absence during the currency of your

policy(ies) is free from income-tax under section 10(10D) of the Income-tax

Act.

16. On most of the LIC plans, you can borrow to take care of your immediate

monetary requirements. None of the policy benefits get affected as a result of

borrowal. Infact, policy loans offer one of the most attractive investment

opportunities.

17. You can pay your premium 3 years in advance at 5% discount. Chief

attractions of this advance payment of premium are (a) there is no possibility

of your overlooking your premium payment and getting your policy(ies)

lapsed wherever you are in the world and (b) you will be earning 5% tax-free

interest on the unutilized portion of the amount left with LIC after

apportioning the regular installment.

18. Most of the LIC plans come with Riders to take care of Total and Permanent

Disablement due to Accident and some of the most dread diseases that may

result in loss of income.

19. LIC pension plans that guarantee you life pension are extremely popular. You

can park your hard earned money safely with the corporation and enjoy

pension as long as you are alive.

Due to these reasons and lot more, LIC should be your obvious choice for all

your life insurance requirements.

LIC is India’s most trusted brand, INSURING LIVES AND ENSURING SMILES

from more than 50 Years.

SUPER BRAND & MOST TRUSTED SERVICE BRAND OF INDIA. BEST IT

USER IN INDIA (NASSCOM – 2003).

Largest Institutional Investor in India and Second largest in Asia among insurers.

(Source: Asian Investor)

LIC - An Institution Builder promoting many financial and insurance institutes like

NSE, NCDEX, LIC Mutual Fund, Stock Holding Corporation of India, National

Insurance Academy, Insurance Institute of India etc.

LIC is the largest life insurer of India Asset value as on 31.3.2004: 3,673,598.4 mn

(INR). Offers over 45 plans to cover your life at various stages Over 160 million

customers and 1.1 million agents. It has underwritten more than 160 million

policies.2,048 branch offices (all computerized) of which 2019 are networked

”From all above we can say our money is safe and secure with assured returns.”

Conclusion

Conclusion

After Finding’s we can see about LIC features and his The tendency to take the

expedient approach and focus on the far right of the LIC spectrum, Peacetime

Contingency Operations and conduct training as usual, while briefing that the LIC

block has been checked, will lead us to a possibly fatal false sense of security.

Instinctive behavior and ingrained training must be adjusted to fit new

circumstances. STXs must be developed locally or borrowed from units who have

already been through the training. The probability of becoming involved in a LIC

operation is high. The potential to attract international attention, even with limited

forces, is also great. Units have demonstrated that with a balanced training focus

and proper preparation, many pitfalls outlined above can be avoided. LIC is not

conventional warfare. This is critical for the counterinsurgent to understand. The

insurgent’s violent and coercive strategy is applied so as to achieve political, civil,

military and psychological results. Hence, the counterinsurgent must counter all of

these strategic elements individually. Inaddition, the target of the insurgent’s

violence and coercion is the population. This is because the population is the centre

of gravity in LIC. Therefore the counterinsurgent must also focus on the population

to be successful. In terms of military principles in counterinsurgency, doctrinal

precision, professionalism, independence, initiative, force precision, restraint,

combined arms, precision engagement, joint force, effective population based

intelligence, integrated communications, a civil affairs approach and high levels of

training are critical. So all policies and plan toally satisfied the customers.

BIBLIOGRAPHYImportant websites –

www.google.com(recummented)

www.licindia.com

www.indiainfoline.com

www.textindia.com

Books And Magazines

Yogkshem –Lic Magazine

Outlook Express

Business today

Finance & Banking

Money Outlook

News Paper

Business standard

Times of India

Economic times

Hindustan times