New India Assurance stock up 3% on strong Sept qtr earnings

Shares of state-owned New India

Assurance today went up as much as 3 per cent to touch an

early high of Rs 703 as the company posted robust September

quarter earnings.

The stock opened on a bullish note at Rs 688 and jumped

3.11 per cent to touch an intra-day high of Rs 703 on the BSE.

On the NSE, the stock opened at Rs 692 and jumped 3.09

per cent to touch an early high of Rs 703.85.

The company yesterday reported that its net profit for

the September quarter stood at Rs 748.27 crore. Its net was Rs

260.24 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17, but the numbers

are not strictly comparable as the company was not listed last

year.

"The earnings have improved substantially due to drop in

claims ratio and operating expenses ratio due to various

steps taken by the company in the past few months. We've been

increasing business without adding to the cost," New India

Assurance Chairman G Srinivasan told reporters.

Going forward, he said the company is planning to retain

its market leadership and grow in line with the market. The

general insurance market is growing at 18 per cent.

He indicated that motor will continue to be its biggest

segment, followed by health and crop.

The largest general insurer went public earlier this

month, raising Rs 9,600 crore, much lower than over Rs 11,000

crore initially planned. But this still is the biggest IPO

since the Rs 15,000-crore Coal India issue of October 2012 .

But the company had a tepid market debut this Monday,

with the scrip getting listed at Rs 748.90 on the BSE, a

discount of 6.4 per cent over its issue price of Rs 800. The

market also bled that day with over 1 per cent fall.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)