Mumbai:
The largest private non-life insurer ICICI Lombard General Insurance on Friday reported a 23 per cent increase in profit to Rs 294.11 crore for December 2019 quarter.Net profit in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19 stood at Rs 239.14 crore.
The company's combined ratio stood at 98.7 percent in Q3FY20 compared to 95.9 percent in Q3 FY19.The insurer's underwriting losses for Q3 stood at Rs 22.04 crore compared to loss of Rs 28.59 crore loss in the year-ago period.
Gross domestic premium income (GDPI) of the company remained flat at Rs 3,693 crore in Q3FY20 compared to Rs 3,699 crore in the year-ago period.Excluding crop segment, GDPI of the company showed a 8.3 percent YoY increase to Rs 3,672 billion in Q3 FY20. The industry growth (excluding crop segment) for Q3FY20 was 10.9 percent.
Among the different segments, motor underwriting losses worsened in the December quarter. Underwriting loss rose to Rs 194.32 crore in Q3FY20 compared to Rs 90.34 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal.Crop insurance underwriting losses dropped to Rs 92 lakh compared to Rs 39.70 crore loss in the year-ago period.
Total income of the insurance company rose to Rs 2,798.90 crore as against Rs 2,416.39 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, said that there has been a pressure on the motor own damage (OD) segment ever since the long-term motor policies have been launched.
"Motor OD rates have reached a level where it is difficult to sustain. There should be some price corrections but this would depend on the competitive scenario," said Dasgupta.
Dasgupta said that the general insurer would look at maintaining combined ratio around 100 percent and aim to deliver return on equity of 20 percent plus.
ICICI Lombard's solvency ratio was 2.18x at December 31, 2019 as against 2.26x at September 30, 2019 and higher than the minimum regulatory requirement of 1.50x.