National insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is completing 62 years of its incorporation.

Having begun its journey on September 1, 1956, with an initial capital of Rs 5 crore and an asset base of Rs 352.20 crore, LIC today has assets of over Rs 28.45 trillion with life fund to the tune of Rs 25.84 trillion.

From 168 offices in 1956, it today has over 4,826 offices, 1.11 lakh employees, 11.48 lakh agents and 29 crore plus policies in force.

With such an asset base, LIC is the biggest financial institution in the country today.

In FY18, the insurer's new business grew by 8.12 per cent, taking the total first-year premium to Rs 1,34,551.7 crore as of March 2018, capturing 69.40 per cent of the market share. The share in terms of number of policies stood at 75.67 per cent, garnering over 21 million new policies as of March.

LIC is present in 14 countries through branch offices, wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures in Fiji, Mauritius, England, Bahrain, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Bangladesh, among others.

"We have grown from strength to strength be its customer base, agency network, branch office network, new business premium and has a significant role in spreading life insurance widely across the country," LIC said in a statement today.

At the end of the FY18, LIC had 30 plans under its individual business.

In FY18, the insurer settled 266.08 lakh claims amounting to Rs 1.18 trillion. Its claims settlement stood at of 95.36 per cent and maturity claims at 98.04 per cent.

Under the PM's scheme (PMJJBY), LIC has covered 265.96 lakh lives under as of March 2018, the statement said.

The total funds invested for the benefit of the community at large stood at Rs 27,36,762 crore as of March 2018, it added.