ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd faced an unexpected situation when its third quarter financial results for FY 2025-26 became available on WhatsApp ahead of the scheduled official announcement. The insurer had originally planned to release its Q3 earnings next week through proper channels.

Inadvertent Disclosure Details

The company acknowledged that its financial numbers for the third quarter of FY 2025-26 were inadvertently uploaded and circulated through WhatsApp. This premature disclosure occurred despite the insurer having established a timeline for the official earnings announcement scheduled for the following week.

Company Response

ICICI Lombard General Insurance confirmed the inadvertent nature of the disclosure, stating that the financial results were uploaded unintentionally. The company had previously set next week as the designated period for announcing its Q3 FY 2025-26 earnings through official channels.

Impact on Scheduled Announcement

Despite the premature availability of financial numbers on the messaging platform, the insurer maintains its original schedule for the formal earnings announcement. The official Q3 FY 2025-26 results presentation remains planned for next week as initially communicated to stakeholders.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance has informed stock exchanges about an inadvertent disclosure of draft financial information by one of its designated employees. The incident, which occurred on January 9, 2025, involved the accidental posting of unaudited results for the third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2025, on the employee's personal WhatsApp Status.

Incident Details and Timeline

The company reported that the draft financial information was uploaded at approximately 5:44 pm on January 9, 2025. Recognizing the severity of the situation, the employee deleted the post within an hour of uploading it. ICICI Lombard emphasized that the information shared was still in draft form and subject to change as the audit process remains ongoing.

Regulatory Response and Investigation

As a precautionary measure and in adherence to corporate governance norms, ICICI Lombard promptly reported the matter to stock exchanges. The company has initiated an internal inquiry under SEBI's Prohibition of Insider Trading Regulations, 2015, and its own Insider Trading Code. The findings of this investigation will be shared with stock exchanges upon completion.

The matter will be formally discussed in upcoming meetings of both the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors. The company has also committed to uploading complete details of the incident on its official website for transparency.

Investor Advisory and Precautions

ICICI Lombard has issued a clear warning to investors, cautioning them not to rely on any financial information unless it is officially released following board approval of audited results. This advisory underscores the importance of waiting for verified, board-approved financial disclosures rather than acting on preliminary or draft information.

Similar Industry Incident

This disclosure comes just days after a remarkably similar incident at Hatsun Agro Product Ltd. On January 5, 2025, the Chennai-based dairy company reported that one of its Key Managerial Personnel had inadvertently uploaded draft Q3 results on personal WhatsApp Status. In that case, approximately 19 people from the KMP's contact list, including company insiders, viewed the draft figures before the post was deleted within an hour.

Both companies characterized their respective incidents as inadvertent and emphasized that the shared information was in draft form, subject to further review and changes. Both organizations also reported their incidents as precautionary measures to maintain high standards of corporate governance and compliance with regulatory requirements.