Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) paid a whopping ₹2,334 crore towards Covid-19 claims in the first quarter ended June 30 this fiscal. This was up 614 per cent over the sum of ₹327 crore paid towards Covid-19 claims in the same quarter last fiscal.
The total number of Covid-19 claims in the first quarter ended June 30, 2022, stood at 85,928, up 721 per cent over the total number of claims of 10,457 in the same quarter last fiscal, sources said.
This surge in Covid-19 claims payout increase may have weighed in on the country’s largest life insurer’s first quarter financical performance. There could have been some bunching of claims related to previous quarters, which cannot be ruled out.
Business performance
Despite this, LIC reported a sharp jump in Q1 net profits at ₹682.88 crore, substantially higher than the net profit of ₹2.94 crore in same quarter last fiscal.
LIC’s claim settlement ratio (death) slipped to 91.51 per cent from 93.57 per cent for FY’22.
The total new business premium for the first quarter ended June 30, 2022, stood at ₹49,283 crore, up 34.38 per cent over ₹ 36,673 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
While individual new business premium grew 36.04 per cent to ₹10,938 crore (₹8,040 crore), renewal premium(individual) grew 8.93 per cent to ₹49,069 crore (₹45,048 crore).
Group business premium saw a robust 33.92 per cent increase to ₹38,345 crore (₹28,633 crore).
LIC’s market share in premium saw a decline to 65.42 per cent from 67.52 per cent in the first quarter of last fiscal. However, market share in policies was up at 70.86 per cent in Q1 2022 from 66.74 per cent in Q1 2021.
LIC’s weighted received premium was up 36 per cent in Q1 at ₹6,595 crore (₹4,861 crore).