LIC records 14-fold jump in net profit to ₹9,544 cr

livemint.com:

Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) recorded a 14-fold year-on-year jump in net profit at ₹9,543.7 crore for the first quarter of FY24, even though the country's largest insurer has been witnessing a shrink in its market share in terms of new business premium. The super-normal growth in net profit is primarily attributed to a base effect and a change in accounting entry, involving a transfer of funds from non-participating policies to shareholders account as a part of accretion on the available solvency margin, according to a regulatory filing. In the previous fiscal's June quarter, LIC's net profit was ₹682.9 crore.

Sequentially, the company's profit has fallen 29%. In March 2023 quarter, the net profit stood at ₹13,427.8 crore. During the first quarter, LIC's net premium income increased to ₹98,362.7 crore from ₹9,8351.7 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

However, LIC saw a decrease of 25% in net premium from ₹1.3 trillion in March quarter of FY23. LIC's total premium income for the June quarter stood at ₹98,363 crore, a marginal y-o-y increase. LIC collected ₹60,224 crore in new business premium during April-July, down 22.11% as compare to same period of last year.

LIC’s stock closed 0.29% down at ₹642.10 apiece on the BSE on Thursday. "Our overall expense ratio has become better and our margins are stable on year-on-year basis," said Siddhartha Mohanty, chairperson, LIC. “During the first quarter of this financial year, we have achieved increase in our Non-Par product mix as a percentage of the overall individual business.