The Centre is reportedly set to extend the term of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) chairman M.R. Kumar by another six months.

While Kumar’s tenure was to end in March, a CNBC TV-18 report on Friday said another extension will be given to Kumar which will be his third.

The report added that the Centre is likely to invite applications for the position of LIC chairman and during his extension, the government will get the time to decide on his successor.

The government had appointed Kumar in 2019 as the LIC chief and he was at the post till June 30, 2021.

The first extension was given to him from July 2021 to March 2022 and this was followed by a second one to March 2023 so that the life insurance major could complete its mammoth initial public offering (IPO).

Shares of the insurer on Friday ended flat at Rs 602.25 on the BSE.

The corporation recently reported strong numbers for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022.

During the quarter, higher premium income and investment gains saw its net profit jumping to Rs 6,334.2 crore against Rs 235 crore in the same period of the previous year.

LIC saw its net premium income at Rs 1,11,787.6 crore during the quarter compared with Rs 97,620.34 crore in the year-ago period.

Of the total premium income, first-year premium of the insurer rose to Rs 9,724.7 crore in the third quarter up from Rs 8,748.5 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Moreover, the renewal premium income rose to Rs 60,194.87 crore, up from Rs 56,822.5 crore, and the single premium income improved to Rs 42,117 crore, up from Rs 32,190 crore last year.

On the other hand, its income from investments rose to Rs 84,889 crore from Rs 76,574.24 crore last year, even as agency commission soared to Rs 8,319 crore against Rs 5,850.7 crore in the December 2021 quarter.

However, management expenses dipped marginally to Rs 13,799 crore from Rs 14,022 crore.