Kolkata: Insurance major Life Insurance (LIC) sales of insurance policies and first premium income in the eastern zone dropped 20 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal, a top company official said.

"We have sold 1,175,000 policies and the first premium income was Rs.907 crore (Rs.9.07 billion) during the April to August period of the current financial year in the eastern zone," said LIC Zonal Manager R.R. Dash.

This drop is mainly due to volatility in the market, he said.

During the corresponding period last fiscal (2007-08), it sold 1.5 million new policies and the first premium income stood at Rs.1,100 crore (Rs.11 billion), he said.

"In the current fiscal, we have a target to sell 5,250,000 policies in the eastern zone and the premium target is Rs.5,500 crore (Rs.55 billion)," Dash said.

The highest selling products of the company in the eastern zone are Profit Plus followed by Market Plus.

"We plan to increase the number of agents in the eastern zone this fiscal by 30 percent from the present 158,000," Dash added.

The life fund of LIC stands at Rs.6,86,616 crore (Rs.6,866.16 billion) and its asset base stands at Rs.803,820 crore (Rs.8,038.2 billion).

In the last fiscal, LIC has invested Rs.82,022 crore in the infrastructure and social sector.