Net profit rises 23% despite lower income

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company on Tuesday reported a 23 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 244 crore in the quarter ended in September 2023 despite lower income.

The company’s net profit in the same quarter a year ago stood at Rs 199 crore.

However, total income decreased by 2.4 per cent to Rs 174.36 crore from Rs 226.42 crore in the year-ago period, mainly because of fall in investment income.

The net premium earned by the private sector insurer during July-September was up at Rs 100.22 crore as against Rs 95.82 crore in the same period a year ago, ICICI Pru Life said in a regulatory filing.

The assets under management of the company grew by 11.3 per cent from Rs 2,44,279 crore as on September 30 last year to Rs 2,71,903 crore as on September 30, 2023.

The company had a debt-equity mix of 54:46 as on September 30, 2023 and 96.4 per cent of the fixed income investments were in sovereign or AAA-rated instruments.

The solvency ratio was 199.4 per cent as on September 30, 2023 against the regulatory requirement of 150 per cent, it said.

For the first half ended September 30, the insurer’s profit grew by 27 per cent to Rs 451 crore as compared to Rs 355 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

However, Value of New Business (VNB), a key measure of profitability, declined to Rs 1,015 crore as compared to Rs 1,092 crore in the first half of previous fiscal.