India's ICICI Lombard quarterly profit rises 40% as premiums climb

Star Health and Allied Insurance

18/04/2023 14:48

BENGALURU, April 18 (Reuters) - India's ICICI Lombard
General Insurance  ICIL.NS  posted a 40% jump in its
fourth-quarter profit after tax, driven by higher income from
premiums.
    The Mumbai-based insurer's March-quarter profit after tax
rose to 4.37 billion rupees ($53.29 million), from 3.13 billion
rupees posted a year ago.
    The insurer's combined ratio, a key profitability metric for
an insurance firm's underwriting business, improved to 104.2%
from 103.2% seen a year ago.
    The combined ratio measures the incurred losses and expenses
in relation to total premiums collected.
    Its solvency ratio, a measure of an insurer's ability to
meet its long-term debt obligations, rose to 2.51 from 2.46 in
the year-ago period.
    ICICI Lombard's motor business, which contributes to around
60% of the company's net premium income, rose 9% to 21.02
billion rupees for the quarter. 
    Net premium income rose 12.3% to 37.26 billion rupees, while
income from investments advanced 14.5% to 6.16 billion rupees.
    Shares of ICICI Lombard closed 2.4% higher on Tuesday ahead
of the results.  

     ($1 = 82.0100 Indian rupees)
    

 (Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia
Cheema and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Anuran.Sadhu@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8697274436;))