UPDATE 1 — India's ICICI Life Insurance profit rises on higher premium income

(Adds details throughout) BENGALURU, Oct 13 (Reuters) — India's ICICI Life Insurance reported a 25% rise in its second-quarter profit on Tuesday, underpinned by higher premium income. The life insurer reported a profit of 3.74 billion rupees ($39.28 million) for the quarter ended September 30, up from 2.99 billion rupees a year earlier. ICICI Life Insurance is the first major Indian life insurer to report September-quarter results, with analysts expecting sector growth to moderate after a surge in policy sales following the removal of goods and services tax on individual life insurance premiums late last year. Industry analysts expected ICICI Life to be among the faster-growing insurers, having shifted its focus towards growth over the last few quarters from prioritising margin expansion. The insurer's net premium income rose 16.6% to 138.04 billion rupees in the September quarter. One-time premiums rose 38.7%, while renewal premiums grew 6.5%. Premium from new policies sold rose a 8.6%. Peer HDFC Life will report its September quarter results on Thursday. ($1 = 95.2200 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Ronojoy Mazumdar) ((