Calcutta, April 23 :    Calcutta, April 23:  General Insurance Corporation (GIC) has introduced an innovative personal insurance cover which gives back to the investor a portion of the premium. The new scheme is part of its efforts to face competition once the sector is opened up to private players. The new policy, named the Return-linked Insurance Scheme, will replace the current personal accident schemes. It is also likely to be suitably incorporated in medical insurance schemes run by the four GIC subsidiaries - Oriental Insurance, National Insurance, New India Assurance and United India Insurance Corporation. Under the new policy, a customer who takes a long-term insurance cover of Rs 3 lakh for five years and pays Rs 50,000 as insurance premium, will get back a fixed percentage of the premium, if he does not have any claims in that timeframe. Under the current system, if the insurance amount is not claimed in the five-year period covered under the policy, the entire premium amount is forfeited and the customer receives nothing. Top GIC officials said that the fresh initiative follows a market study which revealed that the public perception when buying a personal accident and medical insurance policy, was one of being cheated. A majority of the respondents were critical of the fact that while GIC took the premium to provide the cover, it was kept back as a full profit if not claimed. With the multinational insurance majors now knocking on their doors, GIC is keen to change that perception. However, the rate of the return is yet to be decided. Sources said that details are being worked out and it will be officially launched in July, when the company plans to launch its new medical insurance policy, the US style HMO (Health Maintenance Organisation). By including the two general insurance segments in the return-linked insurance scheme, GIC is trying to shield its business from future competition. GIC had thus far held the view that the premium is the cost of covering the risk for the period as it would have had to pay the entire insurance cover if the customer actually did meet with an accident. Most other insurance policies already have inbuilt discounts and bonuses. For instance, if a Mediclaim policy is not claimed for five years then 5 per cent is added to the indemnity amount as a bonus. Similarly, in motor insurance covers, which is renewed on a yearly basis, a no-claim within the year gets translated into a discount on the next year's premium. For life insurance policy covers too, LIC offers year-end bonuses to counter the accusation that the life insurance premium it charges is amongst the highest in the world.