Finance minister P. Chidambaram with LIC chairman A.K. Shukla in Chennai on Tuesday. (PTI)

Chennai/Calcutta, Nov. 15: The Life Insurance Corporation of India has maintained the overall bonus rates for 2004-05, though the annual rates have been decreased from those declared for 2003-04.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram today announced the annual bonus rates for LIC policies while launching Enterprise Portal ? a website for the insurance firm’s customers and agents ? in Chennai.

LIC will pay a bonus of Rs 71 per Rs 1,000 sum assured to whole-life policyholders. Endowment policyholders will get a bonus of Rs 34-54 per Rs 1,000 sum assured, while for money-back policyholders, the bonus is Rs 32-45 per Rs 1,000 sum assured.

“This is in addition to the special bonus announced by the Prime Minister as part of the corporation’s golden jubilee year celebrations in September,” Chidambaram said. LIC had earlier increased the bonus for pension policyholders and retained terminal bonuses, wherever applicable.

For 2003-04, the bonus rates on whole-life policies were Rs 80 per Rs 1,000 sum assured. For endowment schemes, the bonus was Rs 51-57 per Rs 1,000 sum assured, while for money-back policies, the rates were Rs 46-51 per Rs 1,000 sum assured.

“Though the annual rates for the year are lower than 2003-04, with the golden jubilee bonus, the effective rates would be almost on a par with the previous year, with much higher bonus for older policies,” explained G. N. Agarwal, chief (actuarial), LIC.

Under the special golden jubilee bonus, those who purchased policies till March 31, 1981, will be eligible for a bonus of Rs 50 per Rs 1,000 sum assured. Those who enrolled between April 1981 and March 2001 would receive between Rs 45 and Rs 6 per Rs 1,000 assured. The bonus rate falls with every year. Those who subscribed from April 2001 would get Rs 5 per Rs 1,000 sum assured.

Agarwal said LIC has kept the annual rates on a par with the interim bonus rates, which are declared for policies maturing before the annual rates are announced.

“My goal is to make LIC a world class insurance company and it is very close to becoming one,” the minister said. He called the corporation the best known brand in the country after the government.

Enterprise Portal will offer three categories of services. It will answer all queries related to policies and premium. Second, it will offer on-line services, including giving policy details, provision for noting change of addresses, a premium calendar, a loan quote against a policy, a maturity alert for policies, an agent locator and even a doctor locator. Third, the portal will offer on-line services like licence expiry alert and commission calendar to LIC agents.