Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI) Q4 07/08 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY08 total premium income reached Rs 149,705.59 crore; premium income grew 17.16%, while first-year premium fell 18.60% YoY and renewal premium rose 11.0%.

• Retained the largest life-insurance market position, with 61.91% premium share and 73.92% share of individual policies at March 2008.

• Expanded rural, social-security and microinsurance reach; launched six new plans, including Health Plus, and established a pension-fund subsidiary.

Financial highlights

• Total income was Rs 206,362.98 crore versus Rs 174,424.76 crore in FY07; investment income was Rs 47,147 crore versus Rs 40,572.40 crore.

• Profit after tax was Rs 84,462.59 lakh; life-business surplus was Rs 829.59 crore, with Rs 86,664.42 crore added to the life insurance fund.

• Life fund rose to Rs 686,616.45 crore from Rs 560,806.33 crore; valuation surplus reached Rs 16,590.14 crore, of which 5% was paid to the Central Government.

• Settled 1.41 crore claims worth Rs 37,019.51 crore, versus 1.35 crore claims worth Rs 36,485.91 crore in FY07.

Outlook and guidance

• FY09 new-business budget: 4.35 crore policies, Rs 28,600 crore single premium and Rs 28,400 crore non-single premium; plan targeted sustained new-business growth.