LIC’S investments in equities down 21% in Apr-jan

MUMBAI: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) invested ₹46,850.33 crore in equities in the first 10 months of FY20, down 20.75% from the amount invested in the same period last fiscal year, according to official data. The state-owned insurer had invested ₹59,115.67 crore in the April-january period of FY19.

According to LIC, its profit in the first 10 months of FY20 from investments in equities rose 42.36% to ₹23,273.85 crore, from ₹16,348.81 crore a year ago .

During the period under consideration, domestic institutional investors (DIIS) including mutual funds and insurance firms, had invested ₹56,827.37 crore in the stock markets, while the benchmark Sensex rose 5.3%.

DIIS were net buyers of equities worth ₹86,605.25 crore in the first 10 months of FY19, while the Sensex climbed 10%.

According to a statement, LIC breached the ₹1.5 trillion mark in new business premium for the first time ever in the 10-month period to maintain its dominant position in the industry, growing 17.48% y-o-y in terms of first-year premium to ₹45,199 crore.

It registered 29.42% year-onyear increase in the number of policies sold to 19,585,635.

So far in FY20, the state-owned insurer paid 14,293,289 maturity claims amounting to ₹69,748 crore. It also settled 599,881 death claims amounting to ₹9,866 crore.

LIC’S total income grew to ₹2.97 trillion for the 10 months ended 31 January 2020, up 17.79% from ₹2.52 trillion in the year-ago period.