LIC shares rise more than 9% on back of strong quarterly earnings

The shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Monday rose 9 per cent to Rs 682 apiece on BSE on the back of strong quarterly earnings that the insurance behemoth posted for the July-September period. This is the highest intra-day gain of the company since the behemoth's listing in May.

The shares of the insurance company were trading at Rs 665 apiece at 10.20 am on BSE while it was at Rs 668.65 apiece at 11.40 am on Monday.

A Day 1 performance of its listing on the markets was regarded as one of the disappointing debuts this year among the global companies, which raised at least $1 billion through first-time share sales. Investors were disappointed because the behemoth failed to perform well in the markets when it debuted. It had been the initial public offering of a company which was most anticipated during the year 2022, with the buzz already started in the markets during 2021.

The sale of equity in the 65-year-old behemoth was oversubscribed nearly three times, which was somehow fuelled by the enthusiasm of policyholders who got Rs-60 discount and bid multiple times for the shares on offer. At the closing price of Rs 875.25, the stock is now below the discounted price.

The country's largest life insurer on Friday posted a standalone net profit of Rs 15,952 crore for the quarter ended September (Q2), which is sharply higher than the Rs 1,433-crore quarterly net profit a year ago. Net premium income for the reviewed quarter surged 26.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.32 lakh crore. The net income from investments rose 10 per cent to Rs 84,104 crore, according to the company's statement shared with stock exchanges.

The insurer's gross non-performing assets, during the reviewed quarter, stood at Rs 26,111 crore, against Rs 26,619 crore a quarter ago, and Rs 28,929 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said its first-year premium income in Q2 grew 11.3 per cent on-year to Rs 9,125 crore. Its single premium grew sharply 62 per cent to Rs 66,901 crore.

The company's shares were trading at Rs 664.15 a piece at 1.50 pm, which is a surge of 5.81 per cent on Monday.

( With inputs from ANI )

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