Higher premiums power LIC’s September quarter profit

New Delhi: State-owned insurer LIC on Thursday reported a 20 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 12,076 crore for the second quarter ended September 2026, with the improvement in renewal and net premium collections. The country's biggest insurer had reported a net profit of Rs 10,053 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income improved to Rs 2,62,739 crore in the latest September quarter compared to Rs 2,39,614 crore in the year-ago period, LIC said in a regulatory filing.

Its net premium income increased to Rs 1,47,018 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal year from Rs 1,26,479 crore in the same period a year ago. During the quarter, renewal premium moved up to Rs 68,375 crore as against Rs 64,996 crore in the same period a year ago.

However, the first-year premium witnessed a slight decline to Rs 10,432 crore from Rs 10,836 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Explaining the decline, LIC CEO and MD R Doraiswamy said ULIP investments tend to get affected when markets get subdued. Generally, ULIP buyers are impacted by market sentiment, he said, adding, however, one should be buying at every dip. Doraiswamy further said the Value of New Business (VNB) for the six months ended September 2026 was Rs 6,846 crore as compared to Rs 5,111 crore for the six months ended September 2025, registering a growth of 33.95 per cent. The Net VNB margin for the six months ended September 2026 increased by 470 basis points to 22.3 per cent as compared to 17.6 per cent for the first six months of the previous fiscal. Asked if this high level of VNB margin is sustainable during the rest of the fiscal, he said that, with an increase in ticket size which the Corporation is focussing on, there is possibility of some improvement in the third and fourth quarter.

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