NEW DELHI: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Friday reported more than 10-fold jump in its net profit for the second quarter of the financial year 2022-23. The state-run insurer’s September quarter (Q2FY23) consolidated net profit after tax (PAT) came at Rs 15,952 crore as against Rs 1,434 crore PAT reported in the same quarter last fiscal (Q2FY22).
In the preceding quarter (Q1FY23), the insurance giant had reported a net profit of Rs 683 crore.
The unrealistic surge in PAT in the quarter ending September is attributed to a change in accounting policy of the company.
“Change in accounting policy resulted in transfer of the accretion in the available solvency margin from non-par to shareholders’ funds amounting to Rs 14,271 crore (net of tax) pertaining to the accretion on the available solvency margin from Non-Par to shareholders’ accounts, due to which the profit for the quarter and half-year ended September 30, 2022, has increased to that extent,” LIC informed to the exchanges.
The said amount (Rs 14,271 crore) comprises of Rs 5,580 crore (net of tax) of quarter ended September 30, 2022, Rs 4,148 crore (net of tax) of quarter ended June 30, 2022, and Rs 4,542 crore (net of tax) of quarter ended March 31, 2022.
LIC’s net premium income improved 27% year-on-year to Rs 1.32 lakh crore in Q2FY23 from Rs 1.04 lakh crore in the year-ago period. The company’s first-year premium, an indication of business growth, during the quarter came at Rs 9,125 crore, up 11% year-on-year. The renewal premium grew by 2% to Rs 56,156 crore, while single premium rose 62% to Rs 66,901 crore.
LIC’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) as on September 30 was Rs 26,111 crore, compared to Rs 26,619 crore by the end of June quarter, and Rs 28,929 crore a year ago. The company’s share prices ended 1.17% higher at Rs 628.05 on BSE on Friday ahead of the results. The stock is down more than 28% since its discounting listing on May 17.