Life Insurance Corporation on Thursday declared a marginal 1.31 per cent higher policy payout at Rs 2,54,222.3 crore for 2019-20 despite the insurer logging in the best-ever show on new business premium that jumped 25.2 per cent to Rs 1,77,977 crore. State-owned LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer with a market share of 75.90 per cent in policies and 68.74 per cent in first-year premium, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Pension and group superannuation business created history, crossing the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark collecting Rs 1,26,696.21 crore in new business premium income, recording a whopping 39.46 per cent growth from Rs 90,848.86 crore seen in the previous year to March 2019.

The insurer collected Rs 3,79,062.56 crore in total premium income, registering a 12.42 per cent growth over Rs 3,37,185.40 crore collected during the previous fiscal year. Total policy payouts for the year ended March 2020 amounted to Rs 2,54,222.27 crore, up a marginal 1.31 per cent over Rs 2,50,936.23 crore in 2018-19, the Corporation said in a statement.

This was in spite of the firm clocking the highest-ever revenue in first-year premium that jumped at 25.17 per cent to Rs 1,77,977.07 crore for the 12 months period to March 2020. Gross total income grew to Rs 6,15,882.94 crore for the year, up 9.83 per cent from Rs 5,60,784.39 crore in the year ending March 2019.

Total assets of the Corporation rose 2.71 per cent to Rs 31,96,214.81 crore, compared to Rs 31,11,847.28 crore. Digital transactions for LIC policies initiated by customers grew 36 per cent, it said without disclosing details. On the coronavirus pandemic, LIC has already settled death claim from 561 policies amounting to Rs 26.74 crore.