Unfazed by competition from private players, Life Insurance Corporation of India on Tuesday said it has attained yet another landmark by bringing in 2.05 crore (20.5 million) lives under insurance cover till March 15.

LIC has also mopped up Rs 5,700 crore (Rs 57 billion) from Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, the government subsidised scheme for senior citizens.

The insurer now targets Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion) premium income from the scheme offering 9 per cent assured return.

On individual assurance, LIC has insured over 2.05 crore (20.5 million) policies with sum assured aggregating Rs 1,48,285 crore (Rs 1,482.85 billion), a company release said.

The premium income from these new policies amounted to Rs 6,137 crore (Rs 61.37 billion), which was 19.94 per cent higher than that mopped up in the same period of last fiscal.

Group insurance schemes of LIC brought 48 per cent more lives under cover while premium income went up by 97 per cent to Rs 2,333 crore (Rs 23.33 billion).

LIC settled 77,00,000 claims worth Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) and now targets to cross the 1 crore (10 million) mark by end of this fiscal.