Direction: In the following passage there are blanks each of which has been numbered as well as fi lled with a word which may be appropriate in context of the passage or maybe not. If the word highlighted is incorrect and needs improvement then choose any one option suggested given below. But if the given word is correct and requires no change then mark (5) i.e. no change required as your answer. Insurance company shares haven’t been doing well ever since insurers began to list on the czar(1) and SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd’s stock is no formation(2). The stock gained over 1% on Tuesday but is still 9.7% down from its list price of Rs733. The gaga(3) performance of SBI Life’s stock was partly because the IPO (initial public offering) price of Rs700 was rich at a palpability(4) of four times its estimated embedded value for fi scal year 2018 (FY18). The company’s embedded value has grown a decent 9.33% for the fi rst six months of FY18. Given that the second half of a fi scal year is typically stronger for life insurers, SBI Life’s strong growth in most of its metrics portent(5) well for it. The largest private sector insurer reported 37.4% growth in its new business annualized premium equivalent that owned(6) the 20.6% growth in assets under management (AUM). Of course, the growth in new business premium came primarily through individual premium, in line with the company’s historic performance. For all the growth, SBI Life managed to keep its costs under check. The total cost ratio rose marginally to 13.3% from 12.9% a year ago. Its operating expenses ratio reduced to 8.6% from 9.4%. Such a good set of numbers should indeed please investors but for an insurer that has a grand advantage over its trodden(7) in access of a physical network as well as an established pedigree, strong growth is a given. The AUM growth of 20% is kind of assured since the insurer has the largest branch network of State Bank of India (SBI) at its disposal to hawk(8) its policies. It also has tie-ups with other agencies, besides having a network of its own agents. Data from the insurance regulator shows that SBI Life’s premiums have been increasing, wholly(9) driven by a rise in ticket size. This means that the insurer is seeing fast growth in its market-linked policies. Indeed, the share of market-linked products is 49% of new business premium and such products get a boost owing to stock indices ebbing(10) ahead. Also, the number of policies it sold in August was down, showed the data
Q.1. (1) board (2) apex (3) bourses (4) exchange (5) No change required
Q.2. (1) exception (2) inclusion (3) comprisal (4) embodiment (5) No change required
Q.3. (1) enthusiastic (2) tepid (3) agog (4) wacky (5) No change required
Q.4. (1) valuation (2)gospel (3) evidence (4) certitude (5) No change required
Q.5. (1) revelation (2) prodigy (3) rarity (4)augurs (5) No change required
Q.6. (1) stubbed (2) drove (3) piled (4) heaped (5) No change required
Q.7. (1) peers (2) compeer (3) inferior (4) superior (5) No change required
Q.8. (1) prey (2) vanish (3) plumb (4) swoop (5) No change required
Q.9. (1) partly (2)completely (3) surgically (4) sharply (5) No change required
Q.10. (1) fl ooding (2) surging (3) declining (4) sharpening (5) No change required
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