R Doraiswamy, CEO & MD, LIC, said,“The numbers are good this quarter, but if you look at the growth in premium or APE, it is not as high as what you would have expected.What gives us more happiness is that our VNB has grown by 61 per cent plus and our VNB margin has expanded by 7.5 per cent to 22.90 per cent this year. This is a direct outcome of our product diversification and distribution strategy..”
Mumbai:State owned Life Insurance Corporation(LIC) has reported an almost 23 per cent year-on-year(y-o-y) jump in its net profit to Rs 13,492 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal ending June 30th, 2026,
The corporation’s total premium Income for Q1FY 27 was ₹1,27,250 crore as compared to ₹1,19,200 crore for the quarter ended June 30th 2025, registering a growth of 6.75 per cent.
LIC’s total individual business premium in Q1FY 27 increased by 5.52 per cent y-o-y to ₹ 75,416 crore.
The insurer’s value of new business (VNB) for Q1FY27 was ₹3,136 crore as compared to ₹1,944 crore in Q1FY27 registering a growth of 61.32%.
The net VNB margin for the quarter ended June 30th, 2026 increased by 750 bps to 22.9 per cent as compared to 15.4 per cent for the quarter ended June 30th, 2025.
R Doraiswamy, CEO & MD, LIC said,“The numbers are good this quarter, but if you look at the growth in premium or APE, it is not as high as what you would have expected. What gives us more happiness is that our VNB has grown by 61 per cent plus and our VNB margin has expanded by 7.5 per cent to 22.90 pr cent this year. This is a direct outcome of our product diversification and distribution strategy.”
“We have been maintaining that we are increasing the focus on protection, and the contribution from protection will keep increasing. We will continue to improve on non-par savings as well as in other areas. While market conditions influence demand for products like ULIPs, our focus will be on increasing protection in the next few quarters,” Doraiswamy stated.
Currenly, LIC’s non-participating (non-par) products in its portfolio have gradually increased to 32.5 per cent, while the rest in its product basket are participating (par) products.
The corporation wants higher contribution from its bancassurance and digital channels from nearly 8-10 per cent to around 15 per and is looking for suitable fintech player where it can pick up stakes, Doraiswamy indicated.
“We are happy to maintain our leadership in both Individual and Group Business during the first quarter of this financial year, despite increasing competitive intensity in the life insurance industry. Our overall market share by First Year Premium Income was 60.10 per cent for the first quarter of FY 2026-27 and this fits in well with our market share strategy,” he added.
“This year on 1st September 2026, LIC shall complete 70 years of existence and we plan to launch new innovative products and other initiatives for the occasion,” he said.
LIC’s investment income, at Rs 2,500 crore, has risen by 45 per cent y-o-y in in Q1FY27.
The corporation has almost 80 per cent of its investment in debts and 20 per cent in equities.
In terms of market share measured by First Year Premium Income (FYPI) LIC continues to be the market leader in Indian life insurance business (as per IRDAI) with an overall market share of 60.10 per cent.
For the reporting quarter, LIC held a market share of 38.89 per cent in Individual business and 70.90 per cent in the Group business. LIC’s Group Business total premium income in Q1FY27 was ₹51,834 crore as compared to ₹47,726 crore in Q1FY27, showing an increase of 8.61 per cent.
LIC has sold a total of 31,02,281 policies in the individual segment during the reporting quarter as compared to 30,39,709 policies sold during the corresponding quarter of FY26 , showing an increase of 2.06 per cent.
The life insurer’s assets under management (AUM) increased to ₹59,39,384 crore as on June 30th, 2026 as compared to ₹57,05,341 crore on June 30th, 2025, registering an increase of 4.10 per cent y-o-y.
The overall expense ratio for the reporting quarter was 10.63 per cent as compared to 10.47 per cent in the corresponding quarter of FY 26 , showing an increase of 16bps.The Yield on Investments on policyholder’s fund excluding unrealized gains was 8.28 per cent
for the quarter ended June 30 , 2026 as against 8.45% for quarter ended June 30 2025.
On the possibility of Government further disinvesting LIC share, Doraiswamy said the insurer has already met 10 per cent public float much ahead of schedule.
“What we are hearing, the government is unlikely to go in for a public offer in the next 18-24 months as LIC has time till 2032 for meeting the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norm of Sebi,” he informed.
