New Delhi: State-run behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has transferred Rs 16,43.89 crore from its surplus account to the government, after distributing 95% of the total surplus as bonus to the policyholders.
The amount was presented to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by LIC Chairman SK Roy on Tuesday as the government's share of the surplus arising out of actuarial valuation as on March 31, 2014, the insurer said.
LIC generated a total surplus at Rs 32,685.21 crore during FY14, up 13.8% from Rs 28,727.64 crore in the previous fiscal. After distributing 95% of its surplus to policyholders as bonus, the balance of five per cent amounting to Rs 1,634.89 crore was given to the government as its share.
LIC could transfer a higher surplus to the government after two favourable income-tax refund judgements in the recent past. The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) had ruled in favour of the LIC on April 3, 2013, helping it get a tax refund of Rs 4,190.19 crore for assessment years 2008 and 2010.
LIC had also received a refund of Rs 7,500 crore for assessment year 2009 sometime ago. Meanwhile, sources said that LIC has paid an advance tax of Rs 1,760 crore in the third quarter, which is up from Rs 1,536 crore a year ago. This has taken its cumulative tax payout to Rs 4,410 crore so far this fiscal, up from Rs 3,840 crore in the previous year.
