M Saraswathy Moneycontrol News
For the first time ever, one of the executive directors of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) could become its chairman.
Current Chairman VK Sharma will retire by the end of December 2018.
By tradition, one of the four managing directors is elevated as the Chairman. The current chairman was a managing director before taking the top post.
But this time, the country's largest insurer doesn't have that comfort.
Three of its MDs will retire next year - Sunita Sharma in March 2019, B Venugopal in May 2019 and Hemant Bhargava in July 2019. Another MD Usha Sangwan already retired on September 30. No successor has yet been appointed for the post.
LIC has five executive directors in areas of marketing, compliance, investments, audit, finance and accounts. There is also a chief finance officer apart from these officials.
The insurance major has never roped in an outsider to be the chairman.
Procedure
The finance ministry is likely to begin the process of appointing the successor to the chairman in the next few days.
All appointments at LIC need a clearance from the appointments committee of the cabinet chaired by the prime minister. The process begins with an interview and a final shortlist of candidates. The ideal candidates in the past have been LIC officials who have worked across segments like marketing, products and investments.
Among the executive directors as well as zonal managers, sources said Vipin Anand, Zonal Manager of the Western zone at LIC who has held multiple positions in the insurance behemoth, could be considered for the top post.
"The ideal candidate should have a residual service of at least three years. The department of financial services will begin the process shortly," said an official.
As per the LIC Act, the life insurer can have four managing directors, apart from the chairman. These five individuals are referred to as the top management.
LIC MDs and chairmen usually have working experience of 15 to 20 years and should have worked across departments like marketing, investment and products.
LIC collected premium (first-year premium plus renewals) of Rs 3.18 lakh crore in FY18, a jump of 6 percent over the previous fiscal year. The size of its balance sheet jumped by 10.4 percent to Rs 27.9 lakh crore as on March 31, 2018, according to public disclosures made by the insurer.
The insurer’s investment assets stood at Rs 27.23 lakh crore, of which the life fund (traditional business) stood at Rs 20.79 lakh crore.
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