LIC goes slower on equities in FY17

The country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) — a dominant player in both debt and stock markets — has focused on booking profits from its equity investments in the April-December 2016 period. While LIC reports detailed figures for the financial year, this was the first time that the public sector insurer declared key numbers for the April-December period. The public sector insurer said going forward it would disclose financial performance on a quarterly basis. The public sector life insurer said its total equity purchases stood at Rs 39,000 crore for the nine months ending December 2016. In 2015-16, it had invested around Rs 64,000 crore in equities. On the other hand, it invested Rs 1.83 lakh crore in government securities and state development bonds in this period. Future & Option Trading Tips

“Our investment in equities was subdued this year deliberately because markets went up too much. LIC has been a contrarian; the primary duty of LIC is to protect the hard-earned income of policyholders,” V K Sharma, chairman, LIC, said. Sharma said the insurer booked net profit of Rs 16,000 crore in equity markets for the April-December 2016 period against Rs 9,600 crore in the same period last year. “It is incidental that we earn from our investments. We are not a trader in the market; we are long-term investors,” he said. Its total assets also grew by 12.81% to Rs 24.42 lakh crore in April-December 2016, from Rs 21.65 lakh crore in the previous year. Financial Astrology Tips

Backed by robust growth in the single premium segment, LIC posted a 12.43% growth in total premium income to Rs 1.45 lakh crore in the nine-month ended December 2016 from Rs 1.29 lakh crore in the same period last year. Individual single premium income grew 176.38% to Rs 18,500 crore in April-December 2016 from Rs 6,693 crore a year ago. Group single premium segment saw a 26.05% growth at Rs 48,156 crore as against Rs 38,203 crore over the same period. Astrology and Numerology Trading Tips