Bangladesh has given permission to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to run its business in the insurance market. LIC become the second foreign insurance company to operate in the country after the US-based MetLife-ALICO. The announcement was made by Bangladesh Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) chief M Shefaq Ahmed.

Now LIC can start its operations as a joint venture entity to be called LIC Bangladesh Ltd with a paid up capital of Taka 1 billion. LIC will hold half of the amount while the rest would be owed by its Bangladeshi partners raising the amount from the capital market and local entrepreneurs.

Tidbits

• LIC has been in the insurance business for six decades and is worth over 15,000 billion Indian rupees.
• Bangladesh currently has 60 insurance companies in private sector, 43 of them being general and 17 life.
• Beyond India, the LIC currently operates in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Singapore.
• The current LIC Chairman is SK Roy.
• The company was founded in 1956 when the India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the private insurance industry in India.
• LIC is headquartered in Mumbai.

GK Questions

• The first company in India which offers life insurance coverage was ______? Oriental Insurance Company.
• Who founded the Hindusthan Insurance Society, which later became Life Insurance Corporation? Surendranath Tagore