LIC Q3 profit improves 17% to Rs 11,056 crore

New Delhi: State-owned insurer LIC on Friday reported a 17 percent jump in net profit at Rs 11,056 crore in the third quarter ended December 2024 due to reduction in expense ratio. The country's biggest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), had earned a net profit of Rs 9,444 crore in the year-ago period.

However, the net premium income of the insurer moderated to Rs 1,06,891 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 1,17,017 crore in the same period a year ago, LIC said in a regulatory filing.

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The total income also came down to Rs 2,01,994 crore in the latest December quarter compared to Rs 2,12,447 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, expenses of management came down to Rs 14,416 crore as compared to Rs 18,194 crore in the same period a year ago.

"Our focus and strategy remains consistent towards changing our product and channel mix to serve the needs of our customers, in a dynamic environment," LIC MD and CEO Siddhartha Mohanty said.

Asked about updates on picking up stake in a standalone health insurer, he said, the process is on and nothing has been finalised yet.

"It will take time. It is unlikely to be finalised during the current financial year," he added.

LIC is exploring possibility of picking up stake in a health insurance company.

During the nine months period ended December 2024, LIC profit increased by 8 percent to Rs 29,138 crore as compared to Rs 26,913 crore in the same period a year ago.

In terms of market share measured by First Year Premium Income (FYPI), as per IRDAI, LIC continues to be the market leader in Indian life insurance business with overall market share of 57.42 percent for nine months ended December 2024, the insurer said in a statement.

The total premium income also increased to Rs 3,40,563 crore as compared to Rs 3,22,776 crore for the nine months period ended December 2023, registering a growth of 5.51 percent.

The Assets Under Management (AUM) increased by 10 percent to Rs 54,77,651 crore as on December 31, 2024 as compared to Rs 49,66,371 crore on December 31, 2023.

The solvency ratio rose to 2.02 as against 1.93 on December 31, 2023.

For the nine months period ended December 2024, Mohanty said, the non par share within the individual business increased to 27.68 percent, on an Annualized Premium Equivalent (APE) basis, as compared to 14.04 percent for the same period last year.

Further, the VNB margin has also improved to 17.1 percent as compared to 16.6 percent for the same period last year.

LIC continues to be committed to serving the society through higher insurance coverage in the country, he said, adding, Bima Sakhi Yojana, for empowerment of women by offering them career in insurance sales as an agent, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 9, 2024.

Till date more than 1.25 lakh women have been registered and more than 70,000 have been appointed as Bima Sakhis, he said.

In coming months, he said, the outcomes of our digital transformation initiatives will be visible.

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