ICICI Lombard: Misplaced fears?

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd's shares fell on Wednesday, despite the sharp boost in its gross domestic premium income (GDPI) growth rate to 13.3% in the December quarter (Q3FY26).

- Manish Joshi [e-mail]

This is the first time in FY26 that the firm's growth rate exceeded the industry's, which was at 11.5% in Q3.

Nearly 70% of the incremental GDPI came from the health segment (including personal accident and travel), which increased 41%, largely due to a pickup in retail health that benefited from the removal of goods and services tax (GST). The health segment's share in GDPI increased from 23% a year ago to 29% in Q3, whereas the motor segment's share decreased from 50% to 48%.

Despite strong GDPI growth, normalized net profit (on one/n basis) fell 3.3% year-on-year to ₹700 crore after adjusting for ₹55 crore provision towards the impact of the wage code that became effective from 21 November. one/n basis is the accounting practice of spreading the premium equally over the years in case a policy is issued for a tenure of more than a year.