ICICI Lombard General Insurance posted a profit after tax of ₹591 crore for Q2FY23, up 32 per cent YoY and also higher than ₹349 crore in the previous quarter. For the six-month period ended September 30, the net profit was up 47 per cent at ₹940 crore.
The net profit includes reversal of tax provision of ₹128 crore, excluding which the rise in PAT would have been 27 per cent higher for H1FY23 and up 3 per cent sequentially, the company said in a release.
Profitability for ICICI Lombard was largely led by strong growth in the insurer’s gross direct premium income and improvement in the combined ratio. Gross direct premium income grew 23 per cent YoY to ₹10,555 crore in H1FY23, and by 17 per cent to ₹5,185 crore in Q2FY23.
Combined ratio of the company improved marginally to 105.1 per cent in the reporting quarter from 105.3 per cent a year ago. However, for the six-month period, the combined ratio was much better at 105 per cent compared with 114 per cent in the year ago period. A ratio below 100 per cent is usually reflective of an underwriting profit, whereas that above 100 means that the insurer is paying more claims than it is receiving premiums.
The insurer’s loss ratio, also a measure of profitability, too improved to 72.5 per cent in H1FY23 from 79.5 per cent a year ago. However, it worsened to 72.8 per cent for Q2FY23 compared with 69.8 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
ICICI Lombard’s solvency ratio was at 2.47 times as of September 30, lower than 2.61 times a quarter ago.
Interim dividend
The board of the company today declared an interim dividend of ₹4.50 per share for the six-month period ended September 30.