LIC Q3 results: Profit zooms multifold to ₹8,334 cr, net premium income up 14.5%

The insurance giant’s had posted a profit of ₹235 crore in the same period last fiscal. In the July to September quarter, it had reported a net profit of ₹15,952 crore. LIC had reported a net profit of ₹682.9 crore in the April to June quarter.

LIC’s net premium income improved to ₹1.11 lakh crore in the reporting quarter, up 14.5% from ₹97,620 crore in the year-ago period.

LIC Chairperson MR Kumar said, “We continue to remain focussed on creating a portfolio mix to optimise value for all stakeholders, and in that context, increasing the proportion of Non-par business in a consistent and profitable manner.”

The first-year premium or new business premium grew to ₹9,724.71 crore in the December quarter from ₹8,748.55 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Single premium increased by 31% to ₹42,117 crore from ₹32,190 crore.

Net income from investments, policies sold & more

The net income from investments jumped 11% YoY to ₹84,889 crore from ₹76,574 crore in the year-ago period.

The insurer, which is largely reliant on an army of agents, said policies sold in the nine months ended 31 December, 2022, rose as much as 2% YoY to 1.29 crore.

The company’s solvency ratio, the measure of an insurer’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations, rose to 1.85 from 1.77 a year earlier.

The company’s gross value of new business (VNB), which measures expected profit from new premiums and is a key gauge for future growth, came in at 7,187 crore, while VNB margins came in at 19.1%.

The operating expense ratio for the nine months ending December 2022 increased by 27 bps to 15.26% compared to 14.99% for December quarter of last year.

As of December last year, LIC’s assets under management (AUM) surged to ₹44.34 lakh crore as against ₹40.12 lakh crore, showing a growth of 10.54% on-year.

LIC has transferred ₹5,670 crore from its non-participating fund to the shareholders’ fund. The insurance giant was planning to transfer nearly $22 billion from policyholders’ funds into a fund earmarked to pay dividends or issue bonus shares, news agency Reuters had reported last year.

LIC Chairman to meet Adani Group’s top management soon

The insurer has been a target of protests by the country’s opposition political parties, which have been pressing for a probe into allegations by a US-based short-seller against the Adani Group.

The LIC Chairman has said that will meet Adani Group’s top management soon.

The insurer, which has made investments worth more than $4 billion – or about 1% of its assets under management – in Adani Group companies, has maintained that its customers need not worry about the exposure to Adani companies.

Ahead of the announcement of the result, LIC stock ended 0.53% higher at ₹613.35 apiece on the BSE. The stock has been gaining for the last four days.

The insurance giant’s stock is down 13% in a month. The stock hit a 52-week high of ₹920 on 17 May, 2022 and a 52-week low of ₹582.45 on 1 February this year. The market cap of LIC rose to ₹3.88 lakh crore on BSE.