NIA shares up 6% on strong Q1 results; Air India impact, other details

Shares of The New India Assurance Company Ltd (NIA) climbed over 6 per cent in Wednesday's trade after India's largest general insurer by market share, reported better-than-expected results for the June quarter.

The stock climbed 5.52 per cent to hit a high of Rs 183.35 apiece on BSE, trimming its year-to-date fall to 12 per cent.  NIA said its profit after tax soared 80 per cent to Rs 391 crore, adding that its balance sheet remained robust with assets under management of Rs 1,00,802 crore and net worth of Rs 45,414 crore. The solvency ratio was stable at 1.87 times.

Chairman and Managing Director of The New India Assurance Company Ltd, Girija Subramanian, said: “It gives me great pleasure to inform you that NIACL has achieved a gross written premium of Rs 13,334 crore, reflecting a YoY growth of 13.11 per cent in Q1FY26. The domestic gross direct premium during the period grew by 15.27 per cent vis-à-vis the industry which grew by 8.84 per cent."

Subramanian said NIA's market share for the June quarter increased from 14.65 per cent to 15.51 per cent. The healthy growth rate in domestic business was despite a lower growth in Motor LOB where NIA has taken a more cautious approach considering the current competitive intensity. 

"The combined ratio at 116.16 per cent was stable compared to the same period last year. Fire, Engineering and Health portfolios registered a healthy growth," she said.

Subramanian said the unfortunate incident involving the Air India flight had an adverse impact on the underwriting results. 

"Health segment witnessed a slightly higher loss ratio and some large losses impacted the Liability and Miscellaneous portfolios as well. Additionally, provisions were made towards some legacy non-moving balances which were offset by a healthy investment income," she said. 
 

She said the focus for reminder of FY26 will remain on further enhancing profitability, with a strong emphasis on launching innovative products aimed at the retail and MSME segments.