LIC’s death claims sprang to 17.11% in first 9 months of FY21

Death claims made on LIC crossed the 8-lakh mark between April and December 2020, reversing the decline in their numbers over the previous 3 years. As many as 8,16,652 death claims were made on LIC in April-December 2020, up 17.11% from the 6,97,314 claims in the corresponding period of 2019. It was not specified how many of these death claims related to COVID-19.

In the 9 months of 2020-21, LIC settled 8,08,575 death claims and paid Rs. 16,945.96 crore. The data indicate that the number of death claims made rose sharply in the October-December period. Between April and June, 1,68,301 death claims were made and they increased to 4,50,849 in the 6 months between April and September 2020.

The data must be seen in the context of the fact that though India was among countries earliest to report COVID-19, its death rate due to the infection has not been very high.