April-Dec profit rises 36% to Rs 701 crore, company targets net profit of Rs 1,000 crore by March end
Best managed general insurance major and winner of the Golden Peacock Award, 2013, for excellence in Corporate governance, the New India Assurance has reported a 36 % rise in its net profit for April-December period of the current financial year at Rs 701 crore on account of growth in investment income. The state-run insurer’s net profit in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 517 crore.
“Investment income has gone up and a large part of the increase comes from fixed investment income, which is interest dividend, because of the funds we have built up from premium income,” the company’s chairman and managing director G Srinivasan told reporters yesterday.
Investment income rose 14 % to Rs 2,344 crore as against Rs 2,055 crore for the same period last year. The market value of the investments rose to Rs 37,088 crore from Rs 35,296 crore for the same period last year. Srinivasan said the company was looking at net profit of Rs 1,000 crore by March end.
The company’s global premium grew 15 % to Rs 10,255 crore. “Our target for the entire global operation is Rs 15,000 crore for the current year. We are on the right track but it is not a easy job...It is a challenging task considering the slight slowdown we are seeing in the Indian market,” he said.
The growth in premium income in the Indian market has fallen to 13 % this year from 20 % last year. The insurer’s Indian business premium increased by 16 % to Rs 8,337 crore as against Rs 7,216 crore year-ago. The operating expense ratio came down marginally to 23.65 % from 23.82 %. The net worth of the company rose to Rs 8,486 crore.