New Delhi: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) informed the Parliament on Monday that there is an unclaimed maturity amount of Rs 880.93 crore in 2023-24. This means that 3,72,282 policy holders have not claimed the maturity benefit in the financial year 2024, Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary informed. A written reply to the Lok Sabha.
During the previous year, Rs 815.04 crore of 3,73,329 policyholders were unclaimed, he said.
10 death claims worth Rs 14 lakh remain unclaimed during 2023-24, he said.
In order to reduce unclaimed and outstanding claims, LIC has adopted several measures including print media and digital media advertisements apart from radio jingles to encourage policy holders to claim their dues.
The outstanding amount in the unclaimed account is settled in favor of the concerned policy holder or claimant after receiving the claim request, he said.
Reminder letters are sent through normal/speed post, through email where available and SMS if mobile numbers are available, he said.
The claim settlement process has been simplified and only a valid NEFT is required to settle the claim, he added, adding that continuous follow-up is done with the policyholders through agents and development officers to fulfill the requirement and claim the amount.
In response to another question, Choudhary said that the foreign exchange reserve (FER) at the end of November 15, 2024, decreased by 2.63 percent compared to the previous week.
However, in terms of percentage, the highest decline in the last 20 years was seen in the week ending October 24, 2016, in which FER fell by 5.65 percent compared to the previous week, he said.
The value of the Indian rupee (INR) is market-determined, with no target or specific level or band, he said.
Apart from capital inflows (which also include equity inflows), factors influencing the exchange rate of the INR include movements in the dollar index, interest rate levels, movements in crude prices, current account deficit, etc., he said.
Further, it said, the RBI intervenes in the foreign exchange market to prevent undue volatility in the INR.
There are 5,728 non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) whose certificate of registration (CoR) has been canceled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 30, 2024, he said in another reply.
As of June 30, 2024, as many as 25 deposit-taking NBFCs are registered with the RBI.
Complaints received regarding harassment of borrowers by recovery agents are taken up by the RBI at Supervised Institutions (SEs) for immediate action.
RBI guidelines provide borrowers with detailed information about fees/charges, etc., he said.
In addition, he said, the directive instructed to issue all securities in the payment or recovery of the loan and that the lender should not interfere in the affairs of the borrower.
He said that the guidelines have instructed that lenders should not engage in unfair practices for debt recovery. Constantly harassing debtors at odd hours and using muscle power in debt recovery etc.
Further, he said, compliance with RBI guidelines issued to regulated entities (REs) is checked during their supervisory evaluation and any non-compliance is taken up in the REs for rectification apart from initiating supervisory/enforcement action against the REs, as per the rules. and the law.