ICICI Prudential Q1 profit jumps 33% to Rs 207 crore on investment gains

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance reported a 33% jump in first-quarter profit on Tuesday, as gains in securities it invested in helped offset muted premium income growth.

The insurer's profit after tax rose to Rs 207 crore ($25.24 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from Rs 156 crore a year ago, it said in an exchange filing.

Investment income stood at Rs 16,327 crore compared to a loss of Rs 8,496 crore a year ago, due to increase in market value of securities along with higher profits on sale of investments.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 climbed 10.5% in the June quarter, compared to a near 10% drop in the same period a year ago, while the 10-year bond yield dropped 20 basis points.

The company had a debt-equity mix of 54:46 at June 30 and 97.1% of the fixed income investments were in sovereign or AAA-rated instruments.

Strong investment income helped eclipse a 2% growth in net premium income at Rs 7,020 crore.

The government's proposal to withdraw tax incentives on insurance policies from April had spooked policy buyers, with industry sales of policies dropping year-on-year for each month in the quarter, data from the insurance regulatory body showed.

The company's value of new business, which measures expected profit from new premiums and is a key gauge of growth, fell 7% year-on-year to Rs 438 crore.

Rivals HDFC Life Insurance will post its Q1 results later this week, and SBI Life Insurance will report next week.

Shares of ICICI Prudential were up 0.3% after the results, with nearly 29% gains so far this year.