ICICI Lombard General Insurance registered a 35.1 per cent increase in net profit in the quarter ended June 30 at Rs. 289 crore as against profit of Rs. 214 crore in the first quarter of 2017-18.
The Gross direct premium income (GDPI) increased by 13.7 per cent to Rs. 3,774 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal, compared to Rs. 3,321 crore a year ago. The average industry growth for the period was 12.2 per cent.
“Market share increased to 10.1 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal, compared to 10 per cent a year ago,” the non-life insurer said in a release.
ICICI Lombard is the largest private sector non-life insurer in India based on GDPI in 2017-18.
Bhargav Dasgupta, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Lombard, said the insurer has been growing above the industry average, except in segments of motor third-party and crop insurance. “We are reasonably optimistic that the industry will grow in a range of 15 per cent to 20 per cent in the next few years,” he said.
The insurer’s combined ratio improved to 98.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2018-19 from 102.4 per cent in the first quarter of last fiscal.
“This was driven by a reduction in loss ratio to 76.9 per cent in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, from 78.1 per cent a year ago, as well as a decline in the expense ratio (net) to 21.9 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal from 24.3 per cent a year ago,” it said.
Its solvency ratio also improved to 2.04 times in the first quarter of the fiscal against 2.13 times on June 30, 2017, and 2.05 times at March 31, 2018.
