LIC’s unclaimed money tops many ministries’ budgets

The amount of money lying unclaimed with the Life Insurance Corporation of India dwarfs the budgets of many ministries.

There was Rs 21,539.5 crore which lay unclaimed with India’s largest insurance company, according to details in the initial public offer (IPO) document it filed over the weekend. The regulatory documentation is ahead of LIC selling shares to the public through the stock exchange for the first time this financial year. This will be India’s largest ever public listing.

Unclaimed amounts include settled claims which haven’t been paid out, sums which become due when policies mature as well as excess amounts paid which are to be refunded. The largest amount due is because of policies matured but where the money hasn’t reached the investor. They account for Rs 19,285.6 crore or nearly 90 per cent of the total amount.

The scale of the outstanding amount is higher than the budgets of many central government ministries. It is larger than the budget for the ministry of civil aviation (Rs 10,667 crore), ministry of electronics and information technology (Rs 14,300 crore), the ministry of external affairs (Rs 17,250 crore) and the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (Rs 3,030 crore). The total unclaimed amount rose 16.5 per cent in the six months since March 2021.