Usha Sangwan – A True Leader

Women in business have made a tremendous mark globally. Many women have chaired conglomerates or huge multinational companies and ensured the company’s strategic growth. Usha Sangwan is among the most successful and influential women in business today. 

So, who is Usha Sangwan? She served as the first-ever MD at Life Insurance Corporation of India (India’s largest life insurance company) from 2013 to 2018. The story of Usha Sangwan is quite inspiring as she steadily climbed the corporate ladder, starting as a Direct Recruit Officer in 1981 to becoming a Managing Director at LIC in 2013. Currently, she serves as an independent director at LIC. The article that follows answers the question, who is Usha Sangwan. 

Personal and Career Details of Usha Sangwan

People familiar with the workings of LIC can easily answer the question, who is Usha Sangwan. Here are Usha Sangwan’s personal and career details:

• She was born in 1958 in Punjab to Lakshman Das Mittal (Founder, Sonalika Group) and Raj Rani Mittal. 
• Usha Sangwan completed her primary education at Government Model Middle School in Chandigarh. She pursued a Master’s in Economics and Human Resources from Punjab University. 
• She is a licentiate from the Insurance Institute of India. She even pursued a leadership course in management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow. 
• She has four siblings—three brothers and a sister. She is married to Narender Sangwan, a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. The couple has two children—a son and a daughter. 
• The story of Usha Sangwan became popular, and she was ushered into the limelight when she was appointed the Managing Director of LIC in 2013. 
• Usha Sangwan joined LIC India at 23 in 1981 and served LIC for 37 years before she was appointed MD. With her appointment as the MD in 2013, LIC got its first woman MD—an accomplished woman filling the shoes of her predecessor. 

What Was Usha Sangwan’s Role at LIC? 

Who is Usha Sangwan, and what role did she play at LIC? The life insurance giant saw many changes under the leadership of Usha Sangwan. The role of Usha Sangwan in making the insurance giant technology-friendly is pivotal. She posted high premium collection records and established a better customer service department. During her tenure, she worked closely with several sectors, such as marketing, product development, investment, IT, customer relations, direct marketing, finance, corporate planning, etc., to introduce new processes and improve LIC’s services. 

Here are some of the areas where Usha Sangwan made impressive contributions:

• Usha Sangwan played an important role in increasing LIC’s premium collection. She raised $29.85 million in 2014 through global depository receipts. 
• She successfully introduced risk-based pricing and separated the department of marketing and underwriting into two independent divisions. 
• Her tenure as MD brought significant changes that improved LIC’s performance. Many initiatives were introduced, including Rozgar Meals, LIC Student of the Year, and other schemes under corporate communication plans.
• She successfully introduced technology-based services like SMS-based helplines and e-service platforms and launched a mobile app for LIC. 
• The role of Usha Sangwan in integrating social media and technology to help LIC connect better with a tech-savvy generation cannot be ignored. 
• She introduced the Super-30 model, which aimed at creating role model agents at every branch of LIC through a mentoring process. 

Achievements and Awards Received by Usha Sangwan

By now, we can all answer the question, who is Usha Sangwan. She served as the MD at LIC until her retirement on 30 September 2018. Post-retirement, she serves on the independent board of directors for Torrent Power, Godrej Housing Finance, and Trident Group India. 

Usha Sangwan is a member and a director on the board of directors for large fund monitoring at Axis Bank. The inspiring story of Usha Sangwan and her outstanding achievements have earned her many honours and accolades. We have listed a few below: 

• She was awarded the Woman Achiever of the Year by the Governor of Tamil Nadu in 2013. She also received the Sarvodaya Stree Sakthi Harmony and Empowerment Award.
• She was awarded the Women Leadership Role Model and Corporate Leadership Award by Colours TV in 2014. 
• She was on the Forbes list of the 50 Most Powerful Business Women in 2015. 
• She was honoured by the Bombay Management Association as Management Woman Achiever of the Year in 2016. 
• Business Today awarded her the Most Powerful Women in Indian Business consecutively in 2016, 2017, and 2018. 

Who is Usha Sangwan, and how did her successful career with LIC India make her one of the most sought-after leaders worldwide? We hope this article has answered these questions. She had expertise in various domains, including execution, strategy, analytics, and technology, especially applicable to the life insurance segment. She also undertook many social causes during her tenure and continues to do so even today. She has made significant social contributions across education, economic empowerment, technology, and poverty alleviation. 

Conclusion

Usha Sangwan is one of the most influential women in business in India today. She served as the first-ever Managing Director (MD) of a large insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India, from 2013 to 2018. After her retirement, she continues to serve on the independent board of directors of a few leading companies in India. 

With the announcement of her promotion as LIC’s MD in 2013, she became the first woman leader at LIC. By this time, everyone could answer the question, who is Usha Sangwan. She was instrumental in integrating technology, social media, and digital tools into LIC’s processes, making it suitable for today’s tech-savvy generation.