LIC Posts ₹57,419 Crore Full-Year Profit as Total Premium Crosses ₹5.35 Lakh Crore in FY26
Himanshu Bose
Life Insurance Corporation of India delivered a strong set of full-year numbers for FY2025-26, with profit after tax rising 19.25% to ₹57,419 crore from ₹48,151 crore a year earlier, as the country’s largest insurer held firm on margins and accelerated its shift toward higher-value non-participating products.
Total premium income for the year climbed nearly 10% to ₹5,35,984 crore, up from ₹4,88,148 crore in FY25. Individual new business premium grew 8.29% to ₹67,676 crore, while group business posted the sharpest expansion, surging 16.26% to ₹1,96,609 crore — underlining LIC’s dominant grip on corporate insurance mandates. The corporation retained a 56.66% market share by premium and 65.16% by number of policies across the life insurance industry.
The quality-of-business story was equally compelling. Net Value of New Business jumped 41.63% to ₹14,179 crore, pushing the VNB margin to 21.2% from 17.6% a year ago — a 360 basis point improvement that analysts had been waiting for. The shift in product mix was the primary driver: non-participating products now account for 35.11% of individual APE, up sharply from 27.69% in FY25, with ULIPs alone growing 63.48% year-on-year.
Assets Under Management expanded 5.08% to ₹57,29,396 crore, while the solvency ratio improved to 2.35 from 2.11, providing ample capital buffer. Gross NPA in the policyholders’ fund fell to 1.21% from 1.46%, and the overall expense ratio tightened to 11.91% from 12.42% — both pointing to meaningful operational improvement.
The Indian Embedded Value closed at ₹7,89,185 crore as of March 31, 2026, a modest 1.58% rise from the prior year, with IEV Operating Earnings of ₹92,639 crore partially offset by a large ₹72,740 crore drag from adverse economic assumption changes — reflecting the mark-to-market impact of falling interest rates on the in-force book.
On the claims front, LIC settled total death claims of ₹24,885 crore at a death claim settlement ratio of 99.44%, maintaining its near-perfect track record. Maturity claim payouts surged 17.97% to ₹2,79,951 crore, serving over 2.41 crore policyholders.
Beyond the financials, LIC’s Bima Sakhi Yojana — the women’s career agent scheme launched by the Prime Minister in December 2024 — has already enrolled 3.45 lakh agents who collectively sold 21.94 lakh policies and procured ₹2,848 crore in new business, with over 61% sourced from rural areas.
Distribution remained overwhelmingly agency-led at 91.75% of individual NBP, though bancassurance and alternate channel premiums jumped 45% to ₹5,076 crore, suggesting momentum in the diversification push. Digitally, the ANANDA platform’s share of individual policies rose to 12.48% from 8.49% a year ago, and the LIC customer app now has 91.48 lakh active users.