LIC Q4 net rises 2.5% to ₹13,763 crore; wage arrears, benefits hit growth

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported fourth quarter standalone net profit grew marginally by 2.49% to ₹13,763 crore as compared with ₹13,428 crore in the year ago period due to the impact of sharply higher employee remuneration arrears and welfare expenses. 

During the quarter the corporation earmarked ₹13,750 crore towards employee remuneration and welfare as compared with ₹10,381 crore in the same period last year.

For the full year it had allocated ₹39,584 crore towards this head as compared with ₹40,094 crore in the previous year. 

LIC’s net premium income for the quarter increased to ₹152,293 crore as compared with ₹131,761 crore in the year ago period. Income from investments during the quarter also increased to ₹84,425 crore as compared with ₹67,847 crore in the same period last year. 

For FY24 the corporation reported net profit of ₹40,676 crore as compared with ₹36,397 crore in the previous year, up 11.75%.

LIC had changed its accounting policy in September, 2022 regarding transfer of amount pertaining to the accretion on the available solvency margin from Non-Participating Policyholders account to Shareholders account and accordingly transferred total amount of ₹29,518.75 crore (net of tax) in the financial year 2023-24 compared with ₹27,240.75 crore in the FY2022-23, which included an amount of ₹4,542.31 crore pertaining to the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

The Board has recommended a final dividend of ₹6 per share for FY24.

Earlier, during the year an interim dividend of ₹4 was declared and paid to shareholders.

For FY25 LIC has given a guidance of double digit growth in margin. 

For the year ended March 31, LIC had a market share of 38.44% in Individual business and 72.30% in the Group business.

The total premium income for FY24 remained flat at ₹4,75,070 crore compared with ₹4,74,005 crore for the previous year. 

A total of 2,03,92,973 policies were sold in the individual segment during FY24 compared with 2,04,28,937 sold in the previous year.

The Assets Under Management (AUM) rose 16.48% to ₹51,21,887 crore in FY24 compared with ₹43,97,205 crore in FY23.

Siddhartha Mohanty, Chairperson, LIC said, “During the last year we have focused on directional changes in our product mix and enhancing margins in the business.”

“We have more than doubled our share of Non-par business within our Individual business. Now we intend to focus our strategic interventions to maximize our market share across categories,” he said 

“At the same time, our sharp focus on various parameters which create superior value for all stakeholders shall continue, as demonstrated. There are key initiatives related to distribution channel and digital transformation underway,” he added.

“We are confident that our employees, agents and our channel partners are fully committed to achieving these objectives. We look forward to this current year as the one in which our topline growth trajectory will be back in focus, he further said.