The state-run insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India said its fiscal third-quarter profit after tax jumped to Rs 234.91 crores, from a mere Rs 0.91 crore in the same quarter in the previous year, primarily due to a change in funds redistribution policy.
Earlier, on January 25, LIC had reported its financials. The insurer posted a profit after tax of of Rs 1,437 crore for the first half of the financial year 2021-22 as compared with Rs 6.14 crore in the year-ago period. Its new business premium growth rate stood at 554.1 per cent in H1FY22, compared with 394.76 per cent during the corresponding period of the preceding financial year, LIC had said. Its overall total net premiums increased Rs 1,679 crore to Rs 1.86 lakh crore during April-September 2021, from Rs 1.84 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
The company had booked a profit worth Rs 29,102 crore from the sale of investments in the first six months of the current financial year.
LIC said that the total premiums earned were up 0.8 per cent over the preceding year at Rs 97,761 crore. The first-year and renewal premiums went up over the quarter ended December 2020. Meanwhile, single premiums—a one-time lumpsum instead of yearly, quarterly, or monthly premium payments have fallen over December last year.
The new business premium for the quarter stood at Rs 40,939 crore, down 3 per cent. The annualised premium equivalent — calculated to smoothen differences between regular and lump-sum premium — stood at Rs 11,968 crore, which was up 5 per cent against the December 2020 quarter.
Delay in LIC IPO Listing
The IPO of the largest insurer in the country has reportedly been approved by the markets regulator this week and an official announcement is awaited. However, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the initial public offering of the country’s largest insurer due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. After the Union Budget 2022, it was expected that the much-awaited IPO of LIC would hit the market in March. However, in the wake of the share market volatility caused by the raging conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there might be a rethink on the timing of the LIC share sale.
The government will take a call on the IPO of the country’s largest insurer LIC in the “best interest of the investors”, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
“There are certain unanticipated events which have taken over right now. We are closely watching the market and certainly whatever the government will do, we will do in the best interest of the investors and also the IPO,” Pandey said.
The issue would be an offer for sale of 31,62,49,885 equity shares by the government, which holds 100 per cent stake in the insurance behemoth. A total of 50 per cent of the net issue would be reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), whereas non-institutional buyers will have 15 per cent of shares allocated for them. The retail portion has been fixed at 35 per cent of the offer.
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