LIC Seeks Wider Access to Long-Term Instruments as Annuity Inflows Surge

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India is engaging with the country's key financial regulators, including the Reserve Bank of India, market watchdog SEBI and the insurance regulator, to broaden the range of long-term investment instruments available to it, chief executive R Doraiswamy said. The push reflects a structural shift in the business: inflows into LIC's annuity products, which convert a policyholder's accumulated retirement corpus into a guaranteed lifelong stream of income, have been rising steadily as more Indians plan for longer retirements. Because annuities create very long-dated liabilities, insurers need correspondingly long-term assets to match them, and Doraiswamy said LIC has communicated its specific requirements to the regulators. The demand highlights a broader challenge for India's life insurance sector, where the supply of ultra-long-tenor bonds and other suitable instruments has not always kept pace with the growth of retirement-focused products. Expanding this pool would help insurers manage interest-rate and reinvestment risk while offering more competitively priced guaranteed-income products. The initiative comes as India works to deepen its long-term debt markets and widen insurance penetration, and it underscores the growing importance of retirement income as the population ages.