LIC at 69 & India’s ePayments Revolution: Legacy Meets Digital Future

 

 The Citizen Advocate Summary: Declaring April 11 as Safe ePay Day

Proposing April 11 as Safe ePay Day to mark UPI’s pilot launch on April 11, 2016, by NPCI with 21 banks, initiated by Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan in Mumbai. This initiative celebrates UPI’s seamless integration of banking and merchant payments.

April 11 – Declare ‘Safe ePay Day’,

Yes, April 11 is vacant in the UN Observance Day calendar

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🌟 LIC at 69: WhatsApp Payments Today, Safe ePay Day Tomorrow

How many LIC policies do you hold?

🎉 Introduction

On 1st September 2025, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) marked its 69th anniversary—a milestone that reflects trust, reach, and financial security since 1956. At the same time, India’s ePayments ecosystem, powered by UPI and NPCI, continues to redefine how people transact.

This post places LIC’s legacy of trust side by side with the speed of digital payments, exploring how both shape India’s financial future.

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🏛️ LIC at 69: Enduring Trust

• Founded in 1956, consolidating 245+ insurers into one national institution.
• Today, LIC serves 30+ crore policyholders and manages ₹54.52 lakh crore AUM as of March 2025 .
• Special revival campaigns offer up to 30% rebate on late fees to re-engage customers.
• Celebrated “Mad Million Day” (Jan 2025) with 6+ lakh policies sold in one day, worth ₹1,040 crore premiums.

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📲 India’s ePayments Revolution

• 1996 – Internet banking debuts.
• 2008 – NPCI is formed, the backbone of retail payments.
• 2016 – UPI launched 🚀, enabling instant, mobile-first payments.
• 2017 – BHIM & Google Pay enter the ecosystem.
• 2022 – Digital Rupee (CBDC) pilot begins.
• 2025 – UPI now processes 20+ billion monthly transactions (≈7,500 per second) .

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⏳ Side-by-Side Timeline

Year	LIC Milestone 🏛️	ePayments Milestone 💳
1956	LIC established	—
2015	1 crore+ policies issued	Digital India programme launched
2016	—	UPI & BharatQR launched
2017	—	BHIM & Google Pay roll out
2022	LIC IPO (₹1 lakh crore+)	Digital Rupee pilot
2025	AUM ₹54.5 lakh crore	UPI crosses 20B monthly txns

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💡 LIC’s Digital Transformation

🔹 Digital Premium Collections

• LIC Digital App: Pay premiums via UPI, net banking, cards, auto-reminders, and get instant receipts (10M+ downloads on Android, 4.7★ iOS rating) .
• WhatsApp Bot (May 2025): Pay premiums inside WhatsApp—discovery → payment → receipt 📲 .
• eNACH Mandates: Online setup to avoid lapses, with validation in days .

🔹 Policy Payouts & Claims

• Maturity payouts: If docs are submitted ~1 month before maturity, LIC credits via NEFT on the due date ⏱️ .
• Online claim tracking: Claim history & status available via LIC Digital App .
• Digital receipts: Download instantly for premiums & payouts, reducing dependency on branches.

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🤝 Agent-Level Digital Tools

• ANANDA (Digital Onboarding): 3.48 lakh policies issued in Q1 FY26 through agent-assisted digital issuance 🌐 .
• LIC Agent App: Diary, portfolio, renewals, complaints—1M+ installs on Android 📱 .
• Sales Saathi: Build custom presentations & share creatives with clients 🎨 .
• WhatsApp Collections: Agents can nudge and close premium payments instantly via chat 💬.

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📊 Adoption & Impact

• Customer side:
• 10M+ Android installs, 100k+ iOS ratings 📈 .
• WhatsApp bot lowers friction and boosts persistency.
• Agent side:
• Digital issuance, dashboards, and mobile-first tools reduce cycle time from lead → policy issue → renewal.

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🌐 Legacy & Digital: A Combined Future

LIC’s journey shows decades of stability and trust, while India’s ePayments revolution reflects speed, convenience, and scale. Together, they represent the dual pillars of India’s financial empowerment:

• 🏛️ LIC — trusted legacy, financial protection.
• 💳 UPI/ePayments — instant, inclusive, and tech-driven.

Both are converging: LIC now embraces UPI, WhatsApp, and digital claims, while digital payments embrace trust and scale once associated with legacy players.

✨ As India looks ahead, the synergy of legacy and innovation ensures financial security is not just preserved but amplified.

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📚 References:

• LIC milestones & revival campaigns:
• UPI growth & volumes:
• LIC App adoption:
• WhatsApp bot launch:
• Agent tools (ANANDA, Agent App, Sales Saathi):
• Digital payouts & NEFT:

 

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LIC’s 69th Anniversary: What’s Happening

1. Anniversary Date & Significance
LIC is set to commemorate its 69th anniversary on 1st September 2025, marking 69 years since its establishment in 1956. (Uniindia)

2. Brand-New Anniversary Logo
A special logo for the 69th anniversary is expected to debut from 1st September 2025 onwards, as noted by an industry update from AIRIEF. (A I R I E F Website)

3. National-Level Celebration
LIC celebrated this significant milestone with recognition of its robust performance:

• Achieved 65.83% market share in policies and 57.05% in first-year premium income for FY 2024–25.
• Total Assets Under Management (AUM) rose 6.45% to ₹54.52 lakh crore. (Uniindia)

4. Regional Event in Hyderabad
The South Central Zone marked the occasion with a flag-hoisting ceremony at LIC’s Saifabad Zonal Office, led by Zonal Manager Puneet Kumar. Highlights included:

• LIC’s evolution from a ₹5 crore initial capital to being ranked the world’s largest insurance brand, with an asset base of ₹56.22 lakh crore (Brand Finance Insurance 2024) (Vartha Bharathi)
• LIC offers a diverse product portfolio—35 individual and 12 group products, alongside multiple riders—catering to a broad spectrum of customer needs. (Vartha Bharathi)
• The Bima Sakhi initiative is empowering rural women, with 48,882 women agents recruited so far. (Vartha Bharathi)
• A “revival campaign” launched, offering up to 30% rebate on interest for lapsed policies, active until 17th October 2025. (Vartha Bharathi)
• Employees were encouraged to embrace the principles: “My Country First, My Earth First, My LIC First”, urging environmental responsibility, Make in India support, and adherence to the motto Yogakshemam Vahamyaham (“Your welfare is our responsibility”). (Vartha Bharathi)

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Summary at a Glance

Aspect	Details
Anniversary Date	1st September 2025
New Logo	Launch from anniversary day
Milestone Highlights	Strong market dominance and expanded AUM
Hyderabad Event	Flag-hoisting, revival campaign, rural empowerment initiatives, staff pledges

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Quick reference (at a glance)

Theme	Then	Now (2024–25)
Maturity payouts	Branch-led, paper receipts, batch NEFT	Pre-scheduled NEFT on due date if docs a month ahead; online claim status. Liferay DXP+1
Premiums	Cash/cheque counters, bank tie-ups	App, portal, eNACH, and WhatsApp bot; instant receipt. Google PlayLiferay DXP+1
New business	Physical proposal forms	ANANDA agent-assisted digital issuance (3.48 lakh policies in Q1 FY26). Liferay DXP
Agent tooling	Paper diaries, manual follow-ups	Agent App (1M+ installs), Sales Saathi creatives & pitches. Google Play+1
Customer adoption	Portal-first	10M+ Android installs; 4.7★ on iOS; WhatsApp payments live. Google PlayAppleLiferay DXP

 

 

Here’s a year‑wise comparative timeline highlighting the evolution of LIC versus ePayments in India, juxtaposing the legacy of a century‑old institution with the rise of modern digital finance:

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Year-Wise Comparison

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)

• 1956 – LIC established on 1 September 1956, through the nationalisation of over 245 private insurers under the LIC Act. It began with 212 branches and set the foundation for nationwide life insurance expansion. (Wikipedia)
• 2015 – Crossed 1 crore (10 million) policies issued, solidifying its market leadership. (Upstox - Online Stock and Share Trading)
• 2022 – Launch of LIC’s Initial Public Offering (IPO), offering over 31 crore shares and raising up to ₹1 lakh crore. (TaxTMI)
• 2025 (Mar) – AUM reached ₹54.52 lakh crore (approx. $640 billion), reinforcing its position as India’s largest insurer and institutional investor. (Wikipedia)

Key takeaways: LIC’s evolution is marked by institution-building, policy growth, and a landmark shift into the public equity space via its IPO.

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ePayments in India

• 1996 – ICICI Bank introduces Internet banking, marking India’s digital banking era. (Allied Business Academies)
• 2002 – Emergence of mobile banking, enabling basic transactions on phones. (irjhis.com)
• 2008 – Formation of NPCI, a pivotal institutional body for India's retail payments infrastructure. (ayoconnect.com)
• 2015 – Launch of the Digital India programme, boosting digital infrastructure and awareness. (Allied Business Academies)
• 2016
• Launch of UPI by NPCI, enabling instant P2P and P2M payments via UPI IDs. (Wikipedia)
• Introduction of BharatQR, a unified QR code system interoperable across major card networks. (Wikipedia)
• 2017 – Launch of BHIM and Google Tez (later Google Pay), accelerating UPI adoption. (Worldupdates)
• 2016–2023 – Exponential UPI growth:

Year	UPI Transactions Volume (mn)
2016	2.65
2017	418.8
2018	3,746.3
2019	10,787.5
2020	18,880.9
2021	38,744.6
2022	74,044.5
2023	117,676.0
2024	139,996.0
2025	106,369.6 (as of early year)

• (Wikipedia)
• 2022–2023 – Launch of Digital Rupee (CBDC) pilot projects (both wholesale and retail). By December 2023, retail transactions reached over 1 million daily, though numbers moderated to about 100,000 per day by mid-2024. (Wikipedia)
• 2025 (Apr) – Major UPI outage, due to API flooding; success rates dropped to ~50% for a period. (Wikipedia)

Key takeaways: The ePayments timeline reflects an agile, tech-led ecosystem, scaling rapidly from modest online services to a digital backbone of India’s financial system, featuring UPI, NPCI infrastructure, QR payments, and the digital rupee.

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Side-by-Side Timeline Snapshot

Year	LIC Milestone	ePayments Milestone
1956	Establishment of LIC	—
2015	Cumulative policies cross 1 crore	Launch of Digital India programme
2016	—	UPI & BharatQR launched; NPCI growing role
2017	—	BHIM & Google Pay enter UPI ecosystem
2019–2020	—	UPI crosses billions of transactions
2022	LIC IPO	Digital Rupee pilot begins
2023	—	Digital Rupee hits 1M daily transactions
2024	—	UPI expansions; Rupee features enhanced
2025	AUM ₹54-plus lakh crore	UPI: institutional strength and rare outage

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Conclusion

This comparative timeline highlights how LIC and India’s digital payments have evolved along distinct trajectories—LIC, rooted in institutional strength over decades, and the ePayments sector, defined by rapid innovation and adoption in under two decades. Together, these narratives illustrate the dual pillars of India's financial future: trusted legacy systems and dynamic digital platforms.

 

 💳👷‍♀️💻

    Appeal  for Safe ePay Day 🌟

 

## Call to Action 

I urge governments, financial institutions, businesses, and communities worldwide to join hands in declaring April 11 as **Safe ePay Day**.

Let’s celebrate UPI’s milestone by making **Safe ePay Day** a global movement for secure, innovative fintech.

Together, we can build a future where financial access is universal, and every e-payment is safe—starting with **Safe ePay Day** in 2026.

 

No Vada Pav, not even one bite,
Till SafeePay Day takes off in flight.
Quirky vow with a Mumbai flair—
Announce the date, and I’ll be there!