Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has told the stock exchanges that it will launch three new individual products in the domestic market from 19 October 2026. The disclosure, made on 12 October under Regulation 30 of SEBI's listing rules (which require listed companies to report material events), names two health plans and one pension-type savings plan.
The three products
According to reports of the filing, the products are:
- LIC's Health Shield: a non-participating, non-linked, individual health pure risk plan.
- LIC's New Cancer Cover: a non-participating, non-linked, individual health pure risk plan.
- LIC's New Jeevan Dhara-II: a non-participating, non-linked, individual savings deferred annuity plan.
The filing, sent to BSE and NSE under reference LIC/SE/2026-27/106, did not include premium rates, sum assured ranges, entry ages or policy terms. Such details are normally set out in the product brochure and policy wording once a plan is on sale.
What the labels mean
Insurance product names carry standard descriptors, and each tells a buyer something:
- Non-participating (non-par): the policy does not share in the insurer's profits, so no bonus is added. Benefits are fixed in the contract.
- Non-linked: benefits are not tied to stock or bond market returns, unlike a unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP).
- Pure risk: the plan pays only if the insured event happens, such as a covered illness. Nothing is paid at the end of the term if no claim arises.
- Deferred annuity: the buyer pays now, and a regular income (an annuity) starts at a later date. Many pension plans are built this way.
How LIC's earlier cancer plan worked
This is not LIC's first cancer product. In November 2017 it launched a plan called Cancer Cover, with sum assured between ₹10 lakh and ₹50 lakh and entry ages of 20 to 65. That plan paid fixed benefits on diagnosis of specified early-stage or major-stage cancer, instead of reimbursing hospital bills the way a typical indemnity (mediclaim) policy does. LIC has not yet disclosed how the new Cancer Cover or Health Shield will pay claims, so it is not known whether they follow the same fixed-benefit design.
Tax treatment
Since September 2025, individual life and health insurance policies have been exempt from GST, according to Business Standard. All three new products are individual plans, as described in the filing.
Details still awaited
The filing did not mention any change to LIC's share capital or dividend policy, and gave no sales targets for the new plans. Features and pricing are expected to be visible once the products are available for purchase on 19 October.