Largest general insurer New India Assurance today reported a steep 39.3 per cent fall in March quarter net at Rs 336 crore, against Rs 553 crore in the year-ago period, when the state-run insurer was not a publicly traded entity.
Its March quarter net premium also fell 3.9 per cent to Rs 5,215.46 crore from Rs 5,428 crore, the company which went public in the December quarter said.
G Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, New India Assurance, attributed the steep fall in bottomline to the changes in accounting method during the quarter.
For the full financial year, however, the insurer reported a massive 118 per cent jump in net income at Rs 2,201 crore, against Rs 1,008 crore, while its gross written premium rose 15.3 per cent to Rs 26,554 crore over last year.
The combined ratio, which is the profitability gauge of an insurer, improved marginally to 112.23 per cent during the reporting quarter, from 113.07 per cent, while for the full year, it fared better at 111.2 per cent, from 118.7 per cent, Srinivasan said.
But its return on equity more than halved to 8.79 per cent in the March quarter, from 18.42 per cent last year.
Within six months of going public, the company announced a 1:1 bonus issue on top of a 100 per cent more dividend of Rs 5 per share for the year, taking the total dividend payout to 175 per cent or Rs 8.75 a share.
Income from investments under policyholders fund rose 14 per cent to Rs 845.02 crore, while income from investments under shareholders' account fell 33.8 per cent to Rs 469.14 crore for the reporting quarter. Net commission expense jumped over 50 per cent to Rs 601.60 crore.
Total incurred claims (claims paid and changes in outstanding claims) slipped 5.7 per cent to Rs 4,435.24 crore.
The solvency ratio of the company improved to 2.58 times as of March 2018, against 2.17 times as of March 2017. Adjusted combined ratio for the quarter improved marginally to 97.49 per cent from 99.40 per cent.
The yield on investments for the year was 8.87 per cent, compared with 8.69 per cent in FY17.
Employee benefit expenses jumped significantly by 35 per cent to Rs 690.05 crore in the reporting quarter, mainly on account of enhancement of gratuity limits and extension of pension scheme to officers.
From a segmental point of view, operating profit of the fire segment rose to Rs 429.36 crore in FY18, from an operating loss Rs 346.61 in FY17, while the motor segment saw it jumping by 159 per cent to Rs 1,490.06 crore in FY18 and the health segment witnessed its operating loss increasing to Rs 1,492.88 crore in FY18, from Rs 1,313.54 crore in FY17, despite the company increasing prices by almost 8 per cent.
The New India Assurance counter closed the day down 0.11 per cent at Rs 696.70, on the BSE, against the benchmark rallying 0.82 per cent today.
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