MUMBAI: Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) today said it paid Rs 2,206.70 crore to the government as surplus for fiscal year 2017, which is 15.8 per cent over the previous year.

A cheque amounting to Rs 2,206.70 crore was handed over to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as the government's share of the surplus arising out of the actuarial valuation for the year ending March 2017 by chairman V K Sharma, a Corporation statement said today.

For the year ending March 2017, the Corporation had a surplus of Rs 44,134 crore which was an increase of 16.14 per cent over Rs 38,000 crore surplus in the previous reporting year. In FY16 the Corporation had also paid a Rs 500 crore one-time bonus to the government which is its owner.

As per the LIC Act, the Corporation has to distribute 95 per cent of its surplus to policyholders as bonuses, the balance of 5 per cent amounting to Rs 2,206.70 crore was the share of the government.

In FY16, LIC had paid Rs 1,900 crore, thus showing a growth of 15.79 per cent in FY17.

LIC, which has completed 61 years of its incorporation, manages assets worth more than Rs 25.72 trillion and had annual income of Rs 4.92 trillion in the year gone-by.

The Corporation has increased its market share from 70.44 per cent to 71.07 per cent in the last fiscal year.

The nation's largest financial powerhouse has serviced and settled claims to the tune of 98.34 percent in maturity and 99.63 per cent in death claims in the fiscal 2016-17.