Government-based Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has appointed the prominent homegrown payments player, Paytm to facilitate its digital payments. The nation’s largest life insurance company already has its tie-ups with another payment gateway, however, now it has signed a new contract as most of its payments now shift to digital modes.

According to the new contract, there is a requirement of a smoother payment process, a wide range of payment options, and addition of more players such as banks, wallets, and so on in payment channels.

As per sources, 17 payment platforms had bid proactively for LIC’s contract. However, Paytm’s ability to deliver multiple payment services gave it an extra edge, as other platforms were strong only in particular segments such as UPI or card payment.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the life insurance giant has witnessed an escalation in e-payments. It collects more than Rs 60,000 crores from the digital mode, which excludes payments made through banks.

LIC expects 8 crore digital transactions to go up sharply. The state-owned insurance giant wanted an end-to-end solution, which would fulfill its premium payment needs and also various types of collections including remittance of collections by insurance agents. It will also incorporate automation of some processes.