The insurance firms are not commencing pension plans in the market after the insurance regulator IRDA has come up with rules regarding unit plus linked (Ulips). One of the major factors for this is the minimum guarantee that the regulator has attached with this plan.

Under this guarantee four decimal five percent return for the current year is assured and in subsequent years it is fifty bps over and above the average reverse repo rate.

The guaranteed rate of interest can be maximum six percent where as three percent is the minimum rate that one can get.

As of now only LIC's name can be taken as the sole life insurer to introduce a unit linked pension plan after the month of September of 2010.

LIC has come up with a plan that is a low premium one and has two options regarding investments which include both mixed and debt fund. The mixed fund has some contact with equity but the debt plan is totally debt oriented.

It is high time for the insurance sector to squeeze its distribution business after the mutual fund industry. The part time insurance agents might loose their jobs if the statement made by the regulator and LIC be considered as indication.

J Hari Narayan, chairman of IRDA, while visiting Mumbai stated that they have a large force of agents and they are contemplating of getting a new type f licensing structure so that distribution is paid more heed and numbers of full-time agents get increased.

According to TS Vijayan, chairman of the LIC, the firm is contemplating of employing more agents in the current year. They are thinking of recruiting professionals rather than part time agents. He added that the firm would not mind to invest for training those individuals.