New India Assurance April-Dec profit rises 36% to Rs 701 cr

General insurance major New India Assurance today reported a 36 per cent rise in its net profit for April-December period of the current financial year at Rs 701 crore on account of growth in investment income.
The state-run insurer's net profit in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 517 crore.
"Investment income has gone up and a large part of the increase comes from fixed investment income, which is interest dividend, because of the funds we have built up from premium income," the company's chairman and managing director G Srinivasan told reporters here today.
Investment income rose 14 per cent to Rs 2,344 crore as against Rs 2,055 crore for the same period last year.

The market value of the investments rose to Rs 37,088 crore from Rs 35,296 crore for the same period last year.
Srinivasan said the company was looking at net profit of Rs 1,000 crore by March end.

The company's global premium grew 15 per cent to Rs 10,255 crore.
"Our target for the entire global operation is Rs 15,000 crore for the current year. We are on the right track but it is not a easy job...It is a challenging task considering the slight slowdown we are seeing in the Indian market," he said.
The growth in premium income in the Indian market has fallen to 13 per cent this year from 20 per cent last year.

The insurer's Indian business premium increased by 16 per cent to Rs 8,337 crore as against Rs 7,216 crore year-ago.
The operating expense ratio came down marginally to 23.65 per cent from 23.82 per cent.
The networth of the company rose to Rs 8,486 crore.