1.1 General Introduction
Insurance in India can be traced back to the Vedas. For instance, yogakshema, the name of Life Insurance Corporation of India’s corporate headquarters, is derived from the Rig Veda. The term suggests that a form of “community insurance” was prevalent around 1000 BC and practiced by the Aryans. Burial societies of the kind found in ancient Rome were formed in the Buddhist period to help families build houses, protect widows and children. Bombay Mutual Assurance Society, the first Indian life assurance society, was formed in 1870. Other companies like Oriental, Bharat and Empire of India were also set up in the 1870 – 90 s. it was during the swadeshi movement in the early 20th century that insurance witnessed a big boom in India with several more companies being set up. As these companies grew, the government began to exercise control on them. The Insurance Act of 1938 that looked into investments, expenditure and management of these companies’ funds. By the mid – 1950 s, there were country’s life insurance scene. However in the absence of regulatory systems, scams and irregularities were almost a way of life at most of these companies. As a result, the government decided nationalizes the life assurance business in India. The life Insurance Corporation of India was set up in 1956 to takeover around 250 life companies.
1.2 Industrial background
The first methods of transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange