Aurangabad: The newly released annuity plan by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has provided third gender as a separate option keeping in line with its policy decision.LIC senior divisional manager in Aurangabad Kulbhushan Sharma said the move aims at catering to insurance and other policy needs of the third gender. The community has a sizable population and they are a prospective customer base.Sharma said, “We hope to increase our customer base by virtue of the progressive decision taken by the top-brass.”Sharma said ‘Jeevan Shanti’, a non-linked single premium annuity plan, has incorporated third gender as an option for policy holders.In the light of the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court in 2014, LIC in February introduced ‘third gender’ as an option in its proposal forms, after formal approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.Activist Bindumadhav Khire from Pune-based Sampathik Trust, an NGO working for LGBT rights, said the move by LIC to include the third gender was a welcome step.“Taking cue from LIC, other government, semi-government and corporate houses should also give due rights to transgenders,” Khire said.Rolled out on September 11, the ‘Jeevan Shanti’ plan claims to have witnessed 10,131 takers with a total premium of Rs 354.98 crore on the first day. The number of policy holders of the plan has crossed the 16,000 mark, within no time, with a total premium collection worth Rs 612 crore.“After such a brisk early response, we hope policy sales will shoot up on a sustained basis, owing to multiple benefits. The plan is designed in keeping with the emerging needs of Indian society and has many young takers,” said Sharma.Sharing the LIC profile during financial year 2017-18, the divisional manager said the state owned insurance company has settled 2.66 crore claims and paid over Rs 1.1 lakh crore to policy holders. A total of 95.36% maturity claims were settled during the last fiscal at the national level, whereas 98.04% death claims were sorted, according to Sharma.The insurance company has a network of offices across the country, with a workforce of over 1.1 lakh employees and 11.48 lakh agents. LIC offers around 31 plans to fulfil different needs of various segments of the society.

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