- Life insurance first came to India in 1818 from England. The first life insurance company was Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta.
- There was no regulation of insurance business in India until 1912 when the Life Insurance Companies Act and Provident Fund Act were passed, requiring actuarial certification of rates and valuations.
- The LIC Act was passed in 1956 leading to the nationalization of the insurance industry and creation of LIC as a state-owned monopoly until 2000. LIC now has over 2,000 offices nationwide and over 1.2 million agents.