Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported a 20.1% year-on-year rise in standalone net profit for the July–September quarter, as higher premium income and a stronger contribution from group insurance supported its results. The figures point to a business that is still growing, though sales momentum is uneven: group policies advanced while individual new-business measures remained comparatively soft.
Profit and premium income move higher
LIC’s standalone profit after tax reached ₹12,076.02 crore in Q2 FY27, against ₹10,053.39 crore a year earlier. On a consolidated basis, profit was ₹12,114.78 crore, up from ₹10,098.48 crore. The two figures differ because the consolidated result includes LIC’s subsidiaries and associates.
Standalone net premium income rose 16.2% to ₹1,47,018 crore. Net investment income increased about 2.5% to ₹1,14,984 crore. Premium receipts and investment earnings are the main inflows supporting an insurer’s ability to meet policy obligations and generate surplus, although investment income can vary with market conditions.
Group business offsets a softer retail measure
The sales picture is more mixed than the profit headline suggests. LIC’s total annualised premium equivalent (APE), a measure that converts first-year premiums into a comparable annual amount, rose 3.8% to ₹17,004 crore. Group APE grew 16.5%, while individual APE declined 4.1%. The overall APE growth rate also eased from 8.22% in the previous quarter.
That distinction matters because premium income includes renewals and single-premium policies, while APE is used to compare new-business sales. LIC’s first-half figures show the same divergence: total premium income increased 11.64% to ₹2,74,269 crore, but the number of individual policies sold fell 2.25% to about 70.97 lakh.
Weak equity markets have made market-linked unit-linked insurance plans, or ULIPs, less attractive to some buyers. LIC’s management has said it is placing more emphasis on protection and conventional savings products in this environment. A new pure-term plan launched in September drew more than 58,000 policies in the final days of that month, according to the company’s reported results.
New-business profitability improves
LIC’s value of new business (VNB)—an estimate of the future profit embedded in policies sold during a period—increased 17.14% year on year to ₹3,710 crore. Its VNB margin rose to 21.82% from 19.33% a year earlier, indicating a more profitable product mix compared with the same quarter last year. The margin was lower than the 22.9% reported three months earlier, so the quarter-on-quarter direction was less favourable.
For the first half, VNB climbed 33.95% to ₹6,846 crore and the net margin expanded to 22.3% from 17.6%. LIC’s total assets under management stood at ₹59.61 lakh crore at the end of September, 4.16% above the year-earlier level. Its first-half share of individual and group first-year premium income combined was 58.77%, compared with 59.41% a year earlier.
The next test is sustaining individual demand
The quarter gives LIC room to point to higher profit, premium income and new-business margins. It also leaves a clear execution challenge: turning stronger group sales and product launches into steadier retail growth. A recovery in market sentiment could help ULIP demand, but the insurer’s results suggest that protection, savings and distribution choices will matter even if equity markets remain unsettled.
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