In what comes as some very good news for Life Insurance Corporation or LIC policy holders, the insurer is all set to waive off the convenience fee on payments with effect from December 1, 2019. This step has been taken in a bid to improve digital transactions in India and is in line with other similar announcements made by the Reserve Bank of India in the past. LIC has said that any payment done through credit cards towards renewal premium, new premium, repayment of loan or interest on loans against policies will not attract any additional charges or convenience fee. The rule will be applicable from December 1.

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"This facility of free transactions using credit cards shall be applicable to and implemented across all collecting systems - cardless payment and card dip/ swipe on point of sale machines," LIC, which controls over 70 percent of the life insurance market, LIC said in a statement as cited by the news agency PTI on Monday.

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Earlier this year, RBI asked banks not to charge savings account holders for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) effective from January 2020. It has also done away with NEFT processing charges imposed on banks. SBI had become the first bank to implement this in July this year. The lender had announced a waiver of charges for NEFT and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions carried out through the internet and mobile banking. In August, it announced to do away with the charges on the fund transfers through mobile phones using the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).

LIC to bring new products

In an exclusive interview with Anil Singhvi, Managing Editor, Zee Business last week, Vipin Anand, Managing Director, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) said that the corporation is set to bring two new ULIP products soon. "Two of our ULIP products, single premium and non-single premium, which are at the approval stage with IRDA will be launched soon. Possibly, it can be launched this month itself," he said.

Anand said that 2019 has been a good a year for the corporation where it has increased its market share by 6 per cent. "Interestingly, our work has been better on all standard than last year and that's why I think this year is going to be a shining year for LIC," he added.