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Informist, Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2026

 

By Shubham Rana

 

NEW DELHI – ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd.'s net profit growth for the March quarter is expected to be the highest in three quarters, driven by robust premium income growth and lower underwriting losses, according to brokerages tracking the insurer.

 

ICICI Lombard, India's second-largest general insurance company by market share, is expected to post a net profit of INR 6.39 billion for the March quarter, according to the average of estimates of four brokerages. This would be 25% higher on year and the steepest growth in three quarters.

 

Sequentially, however, the net profit is seen slightly lower than the INR 6.59 billion reported for the December quarter.

 

Emkay Global Financial Services has the lowest net profit estimate at INR 5.66 billion. The brokerage expects the bottom line to be "impacted by lower investment income during the quarter". The highest net profit estimate, by Motilal Oswal Financial Services, is INR 7.10 billion. 

 

The company will release its financial results for the quarter and financial year ended March on Wednesday. In the nine months to December, the insurance company posted a net profit of INR 22.25 billion, up 11% on year.

 

JAN-MAR PERFORMANCE

ICICI Lombard is expected to report a 16% on-year increase in its net earned premium to INR 60.58 billion, according to the average of estimates by four brokerages. The net earned premium is also seen nearly 7% higher than the INR 56.85 billion reported for the December quarter.

 

The company's premium growth outperformed the industry in the March quarter. According to data from the General Insurance Council, ICICI Lombard's gross direct premium underwritten rose 18% in the March quarter, higher than the industry growth of 10%.

 

"This growth was supported by a recovery in the motor segment and stellar market share gains in the retail health segment," brokerage Motilal Oswal said in a pre-earnings report. "The group health segment also posted 25%+ YoY (year-on-year) growth, while the fire segment has been declining since the last two months."

 

The company is expected to show a lower underwriting losses for the March quarter. Brokerages expect ICICI Lombard's underwriting loss to narrow to around INR 2 billion from a loss of INR 3.5 billion a quarter ago.

 

"Combined ratio expected to remain stable YoY, with lower claims offset by higher commission ratio," Motilal Oswal said. A combined ratio below 100% indicates the company is generating an underwriting profit, while a ratio above 100% means it is paying out more money in claims than it is receiving in premiums. ICICI Lombard's combined ratio was 104.5% as of Dec. 31 and 102.5% as of Mar. 31, 2025.

 

All eight brokerage reports on ICICI Lombard that are available with Informist have a 'buy' rating on the company's stock with an average target price of INR 2,275. The insurance company's share price has declined over 5% since it released its December quarter earnings on Jan. 13. Shares of the insurance company traded 2.1% higher at INR 1,820 on the National Stock Exchange at 0943 IST.

 

Following are the March quarter earnings estimates for ICICI Lombard from four brokerages in descending order of the estimate of net profit in INR billion:

 

BROKERAGE	NET PREMIUM EARNED	NET PROFIT
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.	61.92	7.10
JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd.	59.17	6.54
YES Securities (India) Ltd.	58.89	6.25
Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.	62.33	5.66
Average	60.58	6.39

 

End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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