It had posted a net profit of Rs 294.11 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Gross direct premium income grew 9.2 per cent to Rs 4,034 crore from Rs 3,693 crore, against the industry’s 4.9 per cent growth.
The combined ratio, one of the key profitability metrics, improved to 97.9 compared to 98.7, the company said.
The net income grew at a slower pace as it had to budget for the higher taxes upfront towards “expensing of acquisition cost relative to the growth of 9.2 per cent in gross direct premium income for the quarter, as the full benefit of earned premium will be realized over the policy period”.
Excluding taxes, the profit grew by 7.3 per cent to Rs 418 crore in the quarter over Rs 390 crore a year ago.
Thanks to the rocking equity market, the company booked massive capital gains to the tune of Rs 108 crore compared to Rs 17 crore in the same period last fiscal. Had it not been for this, the net profit would have fallen sharply.
Ahead of the earnings announcement, ICICI Lombard was one of the few counters to close in the red, shedding over 1 per cent to Rs 1,509.45 on the BSE on a day when the market has had the best rally since September last, with benchmark Sensex gaining over 1.72 per cent or 834 points.
