The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has said that the state-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has a better payments record than private life insurance companies in the country.

LIC has a better record of paying death claims than private sector life insurance firms in India. LIC is the only government run life insurance firm while there are about two dozen private companies offering life insurance in the country.

Irda's annual report 2011-12 said that, "The claim settlement ratio of LIC appeared to be better than that of the private life insurers."

The report said that LIC settled 97.42 per cent cases relating to death claims during 2011-12 compared to 89.34 per cent recorded in private sector companies. The average for the entire industry worked out to be 96.26 per cent.

The report also said that LICs settlement increased to 97.42 per cent during the year compared to .03 per cent during the previous year. The report also pointed out that the private insurance firms repudiated higher number of claims than compared to LIC.

On the other hand, the settlement ratio of private insurers improved during the year to 89.34 per cent from 86.04 per cent in the previous year.