The Life Insurance Corporation of India's plan to target Bollywood actors has gone for a toss.

Tax law changes proposed in the recent Union Budget -- the withdrawal of section 10(10D) on life insurance policies whereby the returns to policyholders will be taxed when the premium paid is in excess of 20 per cent of the sum assured (value of the policy) -- have led the filmstars to review their plans for large policies.

Aggressive marketing by LIC in the western region in fiscal 2002-03 had promised to ring in crores as premium income from this segment of high net-worth individuals.

LIC officials said about 100 actors had showed interest in buying short-term paying life covers under the Jeevan Shree plan.

Actors and sportspersons prefer to buy short-paying term policies or single premium covers as they are not confident of their earnings after a few years, said T K Banerjee, zonal manager (western zone), LIC.

"The attraction of this policy is that one can limit the premium paying term and still have life insurance cover for a longer term," he added.

The scheme is also advantageous for LIC as it gets huge premiums and the claims ratio is small. This is because, Bollywood stars and sportspersons tend to be physically fit.

LIC officials stated that only about 50 Bollywood proposals are now lying with the corporation, as Bollywood stars find the life cover an unattractive investment.

In the past, LIC has insured Bollywood personalities like Aishwarya Rai with a policy of Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million), Shah Rukh Khan (Rs 10 crore), Ajay Devgan (Rs 5 crore), Kajol (Rs 8 crore) and Subhash Ghai, who made waves with his Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million) policy.