ICICI Lombard vs New India Assurance (2026): Combined Ratio, Claims & Which Is Better?
The largest premium book does not necessarily create the best insurance economics
New India Assurance wrote roughly ₹5,400 crore more gross premium than ICICI Lombard in Q1 FY2027, yet it lost money while ICICI Lombard remained profitable.
That is the central lesson of this comparison.
General insurers are not rewarded merely for collecting premium.
They create value only when pricing, claims, expenses, reinsurance and investment income combine into an acceptable return on capital.
Q1 FY2027 made that difference unusually visible.
The direct answer: ICICI Lombard currently has much stronger underwriting quality
ICICI Lombard reported a poor quarter by its own standards, but New India Assurance's underlying underwriting result was materially worse.
ICICI Lombard's combined ratio increased to 107.2%.
New India Assurance reported 121.44%.
ICICI Lombard generated ₹403 crore of PAT.
New India reported a ₹257 crore loss.
ICICI Lombard's solvency ratio stood at 2.71x.
New India's was 1.80x.
The important nuance is that ICICI Lombard's reported combined ratio was hit by identifiable exceptional events, while New India's high claims burden was much broader across Motor Third Party, Motor Own Damage and Health.
ICICI Lombard vs New India Assurance: Q1 FY2027 scoreboard
| Metric | ICICI Lombard | New India Assurance | Current Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market capitalisation, Bull Run snapshot | ₹90,601 Cr | ₹29,629 Cr | ICICI Lombard |
| Gross premium metric | ₹8,318 Cr GDPI | ₹13,720 Cr GWP | New India Assurance |
| Premium growth | 7.5% | 2.9% | ICICI Lombard |
| Industry premium growth | 10.9% | 10.9% | Both trailed industry |
| Combined ratio | 107.2% | 121.44% | ICICI Lombard |
| Adjusted ICICI combined ratio | ~102.3% excluding identified large losses and TP reserve impact | No comparable adjustment used | ICICI Lombard |
| Incurred claim ratio | Higher due to exceptional claims; company-wide metric below New India's | 103.38% | ICICI Lombard |
| Q1 underwriting result | Underwriting pressure but partly exceptional | -₹2,356 Cr | ICICI Lombard |
| Investment income | ₹1,174 Cr | ₹2,146 Cr | New India on scale |
| Q1 PAT | ₹403 Cr | -₹257 Cr | ICICI Lombard |
| Adjusted ICICI PAT | ₹575 Cr excluding specified exceptional items | Not applicable | ICICI Lombard |
| ROAE | 9.6% reported; 13.6% adjusted | Negative for the quarter | ICICI Lombard |
| Solvency ratio | 2.71x | 1.80x | ICICI Lombard |
| Investment assets | Large diversified investment portfolio | ₹99,980 Cr market value | New India on scale |
| Motor position | 10.5% market share; segment +14% | Large motor franchise | Different strengths |
| Retail health momentum | Exceptional Q1 growth | Large absolute health book but high claims | ICICI Lombard |
| Bull Run Score | 51.7/100 | 39.4/100 | ICICI Lombard |
The combined ratio is the number that explains almost everything
A combined ratio below 100% means an insurer made underwriting profit before investment income.
A ratio above 100% means claims and insurance expenses exceeded the premium earned from underwriting.
ICICI Lombard's reported 107.2% therefore means the insurance operation itself lost money before investment income.
New India's 121.44% means the underwriting loss was dramatically larger.
Investment income can rescue an insurer from an underwriting loss, but relying permanently on investments to offset weak insurance pricing is not a high-quality model.
ICICI Lombard's 107.2% ratio looks bad, but Q1 contains two unusual hits
Two large fire claims cost approximately ₹63 crore and added about one percentage point to the combined ratio.
A Supreme Court Motor Third Party judgment also led the company to strengthen claim reserves by approximately ₹165 crore.
That added about 2.8 percentage points.
Excluding the two identified effects, management indicated a combined ratio around 102.3%.
That is still above 100%.
So the underlying underwriting business was not perfect.
But the normalised gap versus New India remains enormous.
ICICI Lombard's adjusted PAT still declined
Removing the exceptional fire and Motor TP effects does not turn Q1 into a high-growth earnings quarter.
Reported PAT fell 46% from ₹747 crore to ₹403 crore.
Adjusted for the specified exceptional items, PAT would have been around ₹575 crore.
That is still approximately 23% below the previous-year quarter.
Lower capital gains were another major factor.
General insurers therefore have two profit engines: underwriting and investments.
Both were less favourable to ICICI Lombard during Q1.
New India's problem is more structural than one or two exceptional claims
The company reported an incurred claim ratio of 103.38% before adding commissions and operating expenses.
That means claims alone exceeded net earned premium.
After operating expenses and commissions were added, the combined ratio reached 121.44%.
The result was an underwriting loss of approximately ₹2,356 crore.
Investment income of around ₹2,146 crore was not enough to offset the insurance loss and other costs.
Motor Third Party is the largest immediate New India pressure point
New India's Motor TP incurred claim ratio reached approximately 122.2%.
Motor Third Party insurance has a structural pricing complication because premium rates are regulated rather than freely set by each insurer.
Claims inflation can therefore rise faster than premium revisions.
For an insurer with a large legacy motor book, a prolonged mismatch can create years of reserve and profitability pressure.
Motor Own Damage is not providing enough relief either
New India reported a Motor OD incurred claim ratio around 119.1%.
That is unusually high for a segment where insurers have more pricing flexibility than Motor TP.
Motor OD GWP increased approximately 12.9% to ₹1,434 crore.
Growth is therefore not the problem.
The issue is whether premium pricing adequately compensates for repair-cost inflation, vehicle technology, parts prices, fraud and claim frequency.
Health is New India's largest premium segment and another major loss contributor
Health and Personal Accident GWP reached approximately ₹6,819 crore in Q1.
That is almost half the company's total premium.
The segment's incurred claim ratio was approximately 108.2%.
Health therefore combines enormous scale with difficult current profitability.
Medical inflation, hospital tariffs, portfolio mix and group-health pricing all influence the economics.
ICICI Lombard's health book is moving in the opposite direction on growth
Health was one of ICICI Lombard's standout businesses in Q1 FY2027.
The total health segment grew approximately 24%-25%.
Retail health expanded dramatically, with management reporting growth well above the industry.
The company's retail-health market share increased as it sold more high-sum-assured policies.
That matters because retail health can produce more durable customer relationships than aggressively priced corporate group-health policies.
ICICI Lombard's motor franchise also remains healthy
Motor GDPI grew approximately 14% during the quarter.
The company maintained roughly 10.5% market share.
New vehicle sales through its channels grew much faster than overall industry unit growth.
The portfolio mix was approximately half private cars, with the balance split between two-wheelers and commercial vehicles.
Motor remains the company's largest established franchise even though Q1 Motor TP reserving created a one-time earnings hit.
The commercial insurance segment shows ICICI Lombard's willingness to sacrifice growth
Commercial lines declined approximately 13.8% in Q1 as competitive pricing became aggressive.
Fire business was particularly weak.
This is strategically important.
An insurer can always gain premium share by accepting underpriced risk.
The difficult decision is allowing premium to fall when pricing does not meet target returns.
ICICI Lombard's commercial decline indicates management is prioritising risk-adjusted profitability over headline premium growth.
New India's fire premium also declined sharply
Fire GWP fell approximately 13.2% to ₹1,971 crore.
The broader Indian property-insurance market has faced intense price competition after changes in pricing structures.
Interestingly, New India's Q1 fire claims ratio itself was relatively low.
So the weakness in fire is more about premium pricing and competitive market conditions than the same claims problem visible in motor and health.
Why New India writes more premium but has a much smaller market capitalisation
Premium is revenue-like volume, not shareholder profit.
New India writes more than ₹13,000 crore of quarterly gross premium.
Its market capitalisation in Bull Run's August 25 snapshot was only around ₹29,600 crore.
ICICI Lombard writes less gross premium but is valued near ₹90,600 crore.
The difference reflects underwriting quality, profitability, capital efficiency, growth expectations and ownership structure.
Solvency makes the quality gap even clearer
ICICI Lombard's solvency ratio was approximately 2.71x.
New India's was 1.80x.
The regulatory minimum is 1.50x.
Both therefore have adequate regulatory capital.
But ICICI Lombard has far more cushion above the minimum while also generating profit.
That gives it greater flexibility to absorb large catastrophe losses, invest in growth or tolerate temporary reserve volatility.
New India's investment portfolio is a major strategic asset
Market-value investment assets were approximately ₹99,980 crore at June 2026.
The insurer has accumulated this portfolio over decades of premium collection.
Investment income can produce substantial shareholder profit even when underwriting is weak.
The problem is that investment income should ideally supplement a disciplined insurance operation rather than continuously subsidise a 120%-plus combined ratio.
Valuation is where New India becomes superficially attractive
New India's market capitalisation is close to or below different definitions of reported net worth.
The company disclosed conventional net worth around ₹23,000 crore and net worth including fair-value changes approaching ₹39,400 crore.
At a market capitalisation around ₹29,600 crore, the implied price-to-net-worth multiple therefore changes materially depending on which accounting definition is used.
ICICI Lombard had shareholder funds around ₹15,172 crore at June 2026.
Against approximately ₹90,600 crore market capitalisation, that is close to six times reported shareholder funds.
A six-times-versus-near-book comparison is not enough to call New India cheaper
For insurers, book value deserves a premium only when the company can earn an attractive return on that capital.
ICICI Lombard historically generated mid-to-high-teens ROE before Q1's exceptional effects.
New India produced a quarterly loss.
A company trading near book while destroying underwriting value can remain near book for a long time.
A company generating disciplined insurance returns can rationally trade at a much larger premium.
Ownership creates another structural difference
The Government of India owns approximately 85.44% of New India Assurance.
ICICI Bank and related promoter interests hold approximately 51% of ICICI Lombard.
New India's public-sector mandate can influence pricing, geographic reach, social obligations and capital-allocation expectations.
ICICI Lombard operates with a more commercial private-sector risk-selection framework.
This distinction can influence valuation even when the two companies offer many of the same insurance products.
New India has a global footprint ICICI Lombard does not replicate at the same scale
New India operates in multiple international markets and wrote more than ₹3,000 crore of overseas premium in FY2026.
That creates diversification and longstanding institutional relationships.
It also creates currency, catastrophe, reserving and jurisdictional complexity.
ICICI Lombard's investment case is much more directly tied to India's general-insurance penetration story.
The stock market currently treats them very differently
| Market Metric | ICICI Lombard | New India Assurance |
|---|---|---|
| Price on 25 Aug 2026 | ₹1,616 | ₹187.29 |
| 1-month return | -2.76% | +8.14% |
| 3-month return | -12.68% | +16.65% |
| 6-month return | -16.98% | +25.72% |
| 1-year return | -15.79% | -2.36% |
| 52-week high | ₹2,064.90 | ₹218.00 |
| 52-week low | ₹1,544.60 | ₹116.97 |
| RSI (14) | 43.09 | 74.00 |
ICICI Lombard fell sharply after the Q1 exceptional claims and reserve surprise.
New India has experienced strong six-month momentum despite reporting a quarterly loss.
New India's RSI around 74 also indicates the stock has become technically extended after that rebound.
ICICI Lombard: what the current investment-quality thesis depends on
What is strong
- Large private-sector franchise.
- Motor market leadership.
- Fast retail-health growth.
- 2.71x solvency.
- Normalised combined ratio near historical range.
- Disciplined commercial pricing.
- Diversified distribution.
- Strong digital servicing infrastructure.
What must improve
- Reported combined ratio must return toward 100%.
- Motor TP reserve uncertainty needs to stabilise.
- Fire pricing remains intensely competitive.
- Capital gains cannot be relied on for profit growth.
- Premium growth trailed industry in Q1.
- Premium valuation requires ROE recovery.
New India Assurance: what the turnaround requires
What supports the franchise
- India's largest non-life insurer by premium scale.
- ₹13,720 crore Q1 GWP.
- ₹99,980 crore investment assets.
- Large health and motor portfolios.
- Global business presence.
- 1.80x solvency.
- Strong financial-strength ratings.
- Potentially low valuation relative to net worth.
What needs repair
- 121.44% combined ratio.
- 103.38% incurred claim ratio.
- ₹2,356 crore underwriting loss.
- Motor TP claims above premium economics.
- Motor OD loss ratio remains high.
- Health claims exceed 100% of earned premium.
- Premium growth trails industry.
- Quarterly PAT turned negative.
ICICI Lombard vs New India Assurance: who currently wins each category?
Gross premium scale: New India Assurance.
Premium growth: ICICI Lombard.
Combined ratio: ICICI Lombard by a wide margin.
Underwriting profitability: ICICI Lombard.
Current PAT: ICICI Lombard.
Solvency: ICICI Lombard.
Motor growth momentum: ICICI Lombard.
Retail-health growth momentum: ICICI Lombard.
Investment-asset scale: New India Assurance.
International footprint: New India Assurance.
Valuation relative to net worth: New India Assurance.
Current underwriting discipline: ICICI Lombard.
Current Bull Run Score: ICICI Lombard.
ICICI Lombard vs New India Assurance FAQs
Which insurer is bigger by premium?
New India Assurance, with Q1 FY2027 gross written premium of approximately ₹13,720 crore versus ICICI Lombard GDPI of ₹8,318 crore.
Which insurer has the better combined ratio?
ICICI Lombard at 107.2% reported and around 102.3% excluding specified exceptional effects, compared with New India at 121.44%.
Which insurer made a profit in Q1?
ICICI Lombard reported approximately ₹403 crore of PAT. New India Assurance reported a ₹257 crore loss.
Why did ICICI Lombard's profit fall?
Two large fire claims, Motor TP reserve strengthening following a Supreme Court judgment and lower investment gains reduced Q1 profit.
Why did New India Assurance report a loss?
Its incurred claim ratio exceeded 100%, particularly because of high Motor TP, Motor OD and Health claims, leading to a combined ratio above 120%.
Which has stronger solvency?
ICICI Lombard at 2.71x versus New India Assurance at 1.80x.
Which appears cheaper on net worth?
New India Assurance, although its reported net worth differs significantly depending on whether fair-value changes are included.
Which has stronger current health-insurance momentum?
ICICI Lombard, particularly in retail health, where Q1 growth materially exceeded the broader industry's growth rate.
Research sources
Disclaimer
This article is educational and informational only. General insurers should be assessed using insurance-specific measures including gross written premium, net earned premium, incurred claim ratio, expense ratio, combined ratio, underwriting result, solvency and investment income. Premium volume alone does not indicate profitability. ICICI Lombard's adjusted combined-ratio and PAT figures exclude specifically disclosed exceptional Q1 effects and should not be interpreted as reported statutory results. New India Assurance reports different net-worth definitions depending on fair-value treatment, so price-to-book comparisons require care. Financial metrics, regulation, claims experience and market prices change over time. Nothing here recommends buying, selling or holding ICICI Lombard, New India Assurance or any other security. Bull Run is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or Investment Adviser.