New India Assurance net profit rises 5.9% pc to Rs 524 cr in Dec quarter

The New India Assurance Company Ltd on Friday posted a 5.9 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 523.89 crore for the third quarter ended December 2020.

It had registered a net profit of Rs 494.88 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The general insurer also reported a 4.3 per cent increase in total income at Rs 7,982.74 crore in Q3 of 2020-21 as against Rs 7,652.59 crore in the same period of 2019-20, it said in a regulatory filing.

Gross premium written during the reported quarter rose to Rs 7,889.38 crore as against Rs 7,045.66 crore earlier.

However, underwriting losses widened to Rs 1,025.59 crore from Rs 916.08 crore.

Underwriting losses reflect that premium collected by an insurer were lower than expenses incurred and claims paid out.

The New India Assurance Co said it made provisions for doubtful debts (including bad debts written off) to the tune of Rs 142.44 crore for Q3 FY21, up from Rs 36.12 crore provision in the year-ago quarter.

However, total expenses of the company came down to Rs 180.82 crore in the quarter from Rs 712.80 crore.

The company said it managed to record growth during the quarter despite the impact of COVID-19 and has consolidated its market share to 14.64 per cent from 14.57 per cent year ago, and continues to be the market leader by a wide margin.

"The company has grown faster than the industry and increased its market share...The growth has been accompanied by healthy operating metrices with combined ratio declining from 116.37 per cent in nine month of FY20 to 109.62 per cent in 9M FY21," said Atul Sahai, the company's chairman and managing director.

He further said the investment income of the company for the quarter was about 25 per cent lower than the year-ago period due to poor market conditions in the initial part of the financial year.

"The employee cost is significantly higher due to provisions towards employee retirement benefits. Effective tax rate was also higher as some of the provisions were disallowed for income tax purposes.

"It is heartening to note that the improved operating performance was able to more than offset these adverse impacts and the company was still able to deliver a healthy growth in profits," Sahai said.

Stock of the company closed 3.43 per cent up at Rs 137.15 apiece on BSE.