LIC becomes India’s 4th most valued firm, gains 4% on strong Q3 results

Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) soared over 4 percent to a fresh record high on February 9, a day after the state-run insurer reported strong earnings for the quarter ended December 2023.

Its net profit jumped 49 percent on-year to Rs 9,441 crore, and net premium income grew 4.67 percent YoY to Rs 1.17 lakh crore in the quarter under review.

The improved performance was mainly driven by an increase in net income from investments and growth in net premium income. On the PSU insurer’s growth, LIC Chairman Siddhartha Mohanty said that this is just the beginning.

“We have several products lined up in the coming days. There is a lot of scope for improvement in certain areas,” Mohanty said in the post-results press conference.

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The country’s largest insurer also announced an interim dividend of Rs 4 per share of the face value of Rs 10 each, for FY24. The LIC Board has fixed February 21 as the record date to ascertain the eligibility of shareholders of the corporation for payment of interim dividend.

The total dividend outgo for LIC is pegged at Rs 2,529 crore. Given the government’s ownership stake of 96.5 percent, it will receive Rs 2,440 crore.

LIC reported a decrease in other income, which fell to Rs 163.83 crore from Rs 209.75 crore a year ago. Despite this, LIC managed to reduce its gross non-performing assets (NPA) to 2.15 percent in Q3 FY24.

Ahead of the results on February 8, the LIC shares soared to an all-time high of Rs 1,145 on the NSE, following positive remarks from the prime minister regarding the company’s performance. The stock, however, cooled off slightly to close at Rs 1,112, up 6.4 percent, on the NSE.

Also Read | LIC Q3 results: Net profit jumps 49% YoY to Rs 9,441 crore

LIC’s market capitalisation has surpassed the Rs 7-lakh-crore milestone for the first time, making it the fourth most valued company in India ahead of Infosys . The mcap of LIC stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore while Infosys slipped Rs 6.95 lakh crore. Only Reliance, TCS and HDFC Bank are above LIC now in terms of mcap.

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