MUMBAI: The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has reported a street-beating set of numbers, with net income growing by 5% to Rs 10,987 crore in the June quarter. The national insurer has also improved its margins, which has helped boost the bottom line. In the trailing 12-month period, it had booked Rs 10,461.05 crore in net income.

LIC’s net premium income for the quarter rose to Rs 1,19,618.41 crore, up 4.7% on-year when it was Rs 1,14,230.24 crore.

While the key new business premium grew 4.9% to Rs 60,262 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 57,441 crore a year ago, the margin from its new business jumped to 15.4% from 13.9% a in June 2024, the company’s recently appointed chief executive R Doraiswamy told reporters in the earnings call Thursday evening.

“The key profitability metric VNB margin has increased by 150 bps to 15.4% on-year, while our expense ratio has declined by 140 bps to 10.47 in this quarter,” Doraiswamy added.

He said the total annualised premium equivalent (APE) jumped 9.45% to Rs 12,652 from Rs 11,560 crore, of which retail APE rose 4.6% to Rs 7,061 crore from Rs 6,747 crore and the value of new business (VNB) soared 20.75% to Rs 1,944 crore from Rs 1,610 crore while the VNB margin jumped by 150 bps to 15.4% from 13.9% a year ago.

All this pushed the new business premium income to Rs 60,262 crore, up 5% over the same period last year.

Non-par APE share within the individual business stood at 30.34% for the quarter, compared to 23.94% in the same quarter last year, said Doraiswamy who assumed office only in the second week of July.