Despite market volatility, LIC made Rs 13k cr profit in equity till Aug: MD

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI), which is preparing for its Initial Public Offer (IPO) despite volatility in the stock market, has already made a profit of Rs 13,000 crore from its equity portfolio till August this year, a top official said on Wednesday.

The insurer has collected about Rs 87,300 crore of renewable premium till August this year, registering a growth of 13.5 per cent over the same period of the last fiscal, he said.

"The insurance industry had lost about Rs 45,000 crore in new and renewable premiums in the last fortnight of FY20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we have recovered well since unlocking and registered healthy growth," LICI Managing Director Raj Kumar said at a webinar organised by Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He further said, "The market now has recovered by 32 per cent from the March lows. LIC has booked a profit of Rs 13,000 crore from equity operation and is still a net investor of Rs 28,000 crore in the market."

The PSU insurance behemoth witnessed a surge in online premium collections, Kumar said.

However, the premium flows so far were from big-ticket policies, while the collection from small-ticket plans suffered, he said.

The insolvency ratio of the insurer till March was 155 per cent, which was at a "comfortable" level for the company, he said.

Speaking about the mega IPO, Kumar said, "The government's intention is to complete it by March. I can only tell that we will try to abide by the instructions."

In the 2020-21 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the government's plan to sell a part of its holding in LICI by way of Initial Public Offer.

The IPO of LICI would contribute a huge chunk to the government's budgeted disinvestment kitty of Rs 2.10 lakh crore this fiscal.