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| Edited By: Parnika Sokhi |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 03:52 AM IST
After almost five decades of existence, LIC got its first woman MD. How did you manage to break the glass ceiling?
You need to prove your merit. When it comes to work, there is no gender discrimination. Only work matters. Some say you need to burn the candle from both sides. I feel very honoured to have reached this position but I do not see it as a women empowerment issue. The society has come a long way since the time I joined LIC. People started accepting women in top positions. It is a sign of evolution. The biggest challenge was to balance your personal and professional life.
Believe in yourself and take your people along, share your vision with them. The results of such a teamwork are tremendous. When passion meets professionalism, results follow.
How is LIC as a place for working women?
There is no written word or such but people take care of their female colleagues and respect them. Today, private companies are framing policies for women but here it has been part of the work culture.
What are your top priorities?
We have evolved with time and adapted to the changes in the economic environment. At the same time, we have retained the core values. That is our biggest strength. Adopting technology, business process re-engineering, increasing the reach yet taking customer centric decisions and holding on to integrity and commitment. We continue enhancing investment returns for the customers but without compromising the security of the money they have invested. Our vision by 2020, is to be able to reach out to every Indian. In the long term, our vision is to manage our systems and processes so that we can service bigger customer base. Our marketing strategy has to cater to different parts of the society. We may focus on increasing the earnings of our agents by helping them increase their productivity. In the immediate future, the entire product range needs to be changed because of new guidelines.
What kind of business growth are you expecting in December, when all existing products go off the books?
In September, which was the earlier deadline for phasing out old products, we booked Rs 6,000 crore of new business premia. We are expecting Rs 8,000-10,000 crore in December. All our present products will go off the books. The golden era of unit-linked products is gone even as some products gave very good returns. These days, the divide is between single premium and non-single products. From January 1, we are ensuring that each segment has one product.
