Life Insurance Corporation has reported a 17% jump in net income at Rs 11,056 crore for the quarter to December, on the back of lower expenses led by the reduction in management outgoes, even though the national insurer had its premium income falling by 9% to Rs 1,06,891 crore from Rs 1,17,017 crore a year ago. Similarly it new premium income also plunged by 21%.
This had its total income also coming down to Rs 2,01,994 crore from Rs 2,12,447 crore in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, employee compensation and welfare expenses declined by 30% year-on-year to Rs 14,416 crore from Rs 18,194 crore, indicating better control on expenses. In terms of percentage, the expense ratio came down by 231 bps to 12.97 from 15.28%, the company said Friday.
Another positive amidst a rash of red lines is that the company reported an improvement in the value of its new business by 50 bps, despite the higher outgo by way of the increased payout to those surrendering policies which came into play from October, while the rest of the industry saw its margins declining due to the same.