LIC shares up 3% on strong Q1 performance

Shares of LIC surged 3% in the early morning trade after the state-owned insurance major recorded a 9.6% rise in its quarterly profit. The company stock opened higher on the bourses hitting the day's high at ₹1,159.60 before settling at ₹1,143.10 on the BSE. At the current share price, LIC trades 6.3% lower than ₹1,221.50 touched on August 1, 2024, with its m-cap at around ₹7.21 lakh crore.

LIC shares have seen a 77.10% increase in the past year, with a year-to-date surge of 32.74%. The share's six-month performance remains muted at 5.38% growth. LIC's profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2024, was ₹10,461 crore compared to ₹9,544 crore for the quarter ending June 30th, 2023, a growth of 9.61%. Regarding market share measured by first-year premium income (FYPI), LIC continues to lead in the Indian life insurance business at 64.02%. "For the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, LIC had a market share of 39.27% in individual business and 76.59% in the group business," the company informs via an exchange filing.

Siddhartha Mohanty, CEO & MD, LIC says the company increased its market share in the last quarter and is progressing on its objective of gaining market share. "The momentum around increasing share of Non-Par products within the Individual segment continues and our Non-Par Share, on an APE basis, within the Individual business has increased to 23.94% in the first quarter of FY25 as compared to 10.22% for the same quarter last year. We are committed to further optimising our product and channel mix and improvement of margins. With the digital transformation exercise underway, we intend to create a seamless experience for our customers and partners."

LIC's total premium income for Q1 FY25 was ₹1,13,770 crore compared to ₹98,363 crore in the year-ago period, up 15.66%. The individual business premium increased 7.04% to ₹67,192 crore from ₹62,773 crore in the same period a year ago, while the group business premium zoomed 30.87% to ₹46,578 crores as compared to ₹35,590 crore in the same period last year.

LIC sold 35,65,519 policies in the said quarter in the individual segment vs 32,16,301 policies in the same period last year, a growth of 10.86%. On an annualised premium equivalent (APE) basis, LIC's premium was ₹11,560 crore for the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, of which 58.37% (₹6,747 crore) was accounted for by the individual business and 41.63% (₹4,813 crore) by the group business. The value of new business (VNB) for the said quarter grew 23.66% to ₹1,610 crore compared to ₹1,302 crore in the year-ago period. VNB margin was up by 20 bps to 13.9% vs 13.7% last year. LIC's assets under management (AUM) increased 16.22% to ₹53,58,781 crore in Q1 FY25 compared to ₹46,11,067 crore in Q1 FY24.