new delhi life insurance corporation of india lic has become the countrys only insurer to come out of the financial crisis smelling like a rose as investors preferred the security of the staterun institution at a time of global panic lic posted a 50 growth in new premium collection in the first nine months of this fiscal bumping up its market share to 65 from 56 a year ago indicating that investors are not yet ready to forget the panic sown by the bankruptcies of many venerated global names lics staggering growth is in contrast to the slouching growth of the countrys 22 private insurers that are still struggling to regain the momentum of 2007 private insurance firms saw an almost flat growth of 3 dragging the overall industry growth rate to 29 in the aprildecember period of this fiscal the global turmoil which saw many financial behemoths seeking their governments help has affected investor sentiment said a ceo of a private insurer as insurance is a longterm product taken for oldage security purpose a stateowned company is a more preferred destination for investment he said on condition of anonymity lics mostly conventional products too could be a reason as riskaverse investors are shying away from the 70 unitlinked products or ulips of private insurers lics growth reflects the traditional comfort that consumers enjoy with the stateowned company said monish chatrath executive director of mazars india an international firm specialising in audit accounting tax and advisory services lics new premium collection touched rs 44178 crore in the aprildecember period while the combined business of 22 private insurers grew to rs 23379 crore from a year ago as per data collated by the insurance regulatory and development authority irda private insurance firms recorded a 74 growth in new premia in 200708 seen as the golden period in their business