NEW DELHI: Insurance behemoth LIC will soon obtain services of retired bankers to strengthen its lending operations and ensure that NPAs are kept at the minimum.

LIC has set up a cell for its lending, NPA resolution and one-time settlement (OTS), sources said, adding the company will soon get experts particularly bankers to this portfolio.

LIC has been into the business of insurance but they don't have expertise on loan risk assessment and resolution, sources said.

A standard operating procedure has also been worked out for repayment through one-time settlement scheme, they added.

At the end of March 2016, LIC had a debt portfolio of Rs 3.79 lakh crore, bigger than the loan portfolio of most banks. Its gross non-performing assets stood at 3.76 per cent at the end of March 2016, up from 3.30 per cent in the previous year.

Driven by sudden surge in single premium policy sales and falling interest rates, total new business premium of LIC rose 25.8 per cent to Rs 1.22 lakh crore in FY 2016-17 from around Rs 97,000 crore in the previous year.

However, the state-owned insurer witnessed de-growth in terms of policies during the year under review.

Total new business premium, including pension and group business, rose to Rs 1.22 lakh crore in 2016-17 from around Rs 97,000 crore a year ago, a senior LIC official said.

New business on the individual basis zoomed 47 per cent to Rs 37,800 crore from Rs 25,700 crore a year ago.

New business on the individual basis jumped 122 per cent from the projected target of Rs 31,000 crore in 2016-17. Interestingly, the target was the same for the previous fiscal too.

New business on the individual basis at LIC grew by 47 per cent to Rs 37,800 crore for 2016-17 from Rs 25,700 crore in the previous fiscal.