India's ICICI Lombard reports Q1 profit rise on higher retail health premium income
The non-life insurer reported a profit after tax of 7.47 billion rupees ($87.04 million) for the quarter ended June 30.
Demand for health insurance has surged in India in recent years, driven by soaring medical costs and heightened awareness, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICICI Lombard reported solid growth in both retail and corporate health insurance premiums, rising 44% and 10% from a year ago, respectively.
Motor insurance premiums rose 13.5%, higher than the 12% growth in the year-ago quarter.
These segments together helped lift the company's net premiums earned by 14% to 51.36 billion rupees in the quarter ended June 30.
Profitability also improved as the combined ratio, a key metric that compares claims and expenses to premium income, improved to 102.9% from 102.3% a year ago.
This indicates the company is earning more in premiums than it is spending on claims and operations.
ICICI Lombard is backed by ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS), opens new tab, one of India's largest private lenders. It also offers marine and crop insurance, among other services.
($1 = 85.8240 Indian rupees)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russia-backed Indian refiner condemns EU curbs, weighs legal options
NEW DELHI, July 21 (Reuters) - Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy on Monday condemned the European Union's sanctions on it and said it was exploring legal options against the latest "restrictive measures". On Friday, the EU approved its 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, which includes sanctions on Nayara Energy, a refinery backed by Russian oil major Rosneft ( opens new tab. "Nayara Energy strongly condemns the European Union's unjust and unilateral decision to impose restrictive measures on our company," it said in a statement. Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara and a similar stake is owned by a consortium, Kesani Enterprises Co Ltd, led by Italy's Mareterra Group and Russian investment group United Capital Partners. "We are actively exploring all legal and appropriate avenues to address this situation and to protect the interests of our operations, employees, and our stakeholders," Nayara said, asserting that the latest EU sanctions had "no legal basis". The company, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in western India, has lined up more than 700 billion rupees ($8.1 billion) of investment for projects including petrochemicals and the expansion of its fuel retail stations. "We categorically state that this unilateral move by the European Union is founded on baseless assertions, representing an undue extension of authority that ignores both international law and the sovereignty of India," it said. India has said it does not support "unilateral sanctions" by the EU. ($1 = 86.2980 Indian rupees)
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
New EU Russia curbs may bolster Indian oil refiners' reliance on traders
NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, July 21 (Reuters) - Indian private refiners that have leveraged cheap Russian crude to boost margins will be forced to find workarounds and rely more on traders to find new markets for their products after the latest round of European Union sanctions, traders and industry sources said. Russia is India's top oil supplier, and refiners such as Reliance Industries ( opens new tab and Nayara Energy have benefited in recent years from pressure on Russian crude prices from sanctions linked to its invasion of Ukraine. Many have then exported refined products to buyers in Europe. However in its 18th package of sanctions against Russia, approved on Friday, the European bloc banned imports of refined petroleum products made from Russian crude coming from third countries, excluding a handful of Western nations. It has also placed direct sanctions on Nayara Energy, a refinery backed by Russian oil major Rosneft ( opens new tab. The package will be phased in over six months. Reliance, India's largest buyer of Russian oil and refined products exporter, shipped an average of 2.83 million barrels of diesel and 1.5 million barrels of jet fuel per month to Europe in the first seven months of this year, LSEG shiptracking data showed. That roughly accounted for nearly 30% and 60% of its respective exports of the two products. Nayara Energy typically exports four million barrels or more of refined products including diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha per month, though only jet fuel typically heads to European markets, LSEG and Kpler shiptracking data showed. Under the sanctions, traders are likely to play a bigger role in placing refined products made from Russian crude, the sources said. Given the long phase-in time, they are likely to get creative with routes, they added. For diesel, traders are likely to swap Indian supplies with Middle East cargoes for export to Europe, Singapore-based traders said. They may also ship Indian cargoes to floating storage facilities in the Middle East or West Africa to be re-exported, they added. For jet fuel, Indian refiners may either divert cargoes to local markets or ship supplies to Asia, they said. Reliance and Nayara did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The changes will benefit traders by generating more trade flows, but will be costly for producers and consumers, said an Asian trader. Europe, heading into winter, may have to pay higher prices for refined fuel, he added. Nayara said in a statement on Monday it condemned the EU's "unjust and unilateral" decision to impose sanctions on the company, while India said on Friday it does not support the EU's "unilateral sanctions". Indian state refiners, which also buy Russian crude, are likely to be less affected by the sanctions as they sell most of their fuel locally and export through tenders, mostly to buyers in Asia, including Singapore, refining sources said. Indian state refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd ( opens new tab said the company's diesel exports were unlikely to be affected by the latest sanctions. Traders in recent months sold some of MRPL's diesel parcels in the UK, according to LSEG. "We don't directly sell our diesel to the end customer. It is all picked up through a tendering process by a trader," managing director M Shyamprasad Kamath said, adding that he does not see problems in selling refined fuels due to the sanctions. Following the EU sanctions, Nayara Energy amended the terms of a naphtha tender issued on Monday to obtain payment in advance, a tender document seen by Reuters showed.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Bajaj Finance MD Anup Saha resigns; Rajeev Jain returns to role
BENGALURU, July 21 (Reuters) - Bajaj Finance ( opens new tab said on Monday its managing director, Anup Kumar Saha, has resigned due to personal reasons after nearly four months in the role. The non-banking financial company said it has appointed Rajeev Jain to the role till March 31, 2028. Jain will also continue to serve as vice chairman of the company. Jain had served as the company's managing director before Saha.
