BENGALURU, May 27 (Reuters) - Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported a 2.5% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Monday, helped by higher premium income and the reversal of a tax provision.

India's biggest insurer said profit after tax totalled 137.63 billion rupees ($1.66 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, up from 134.28 billion rupees a year earlier.

Net premium income rose 15.6% to 1.52 trillion rupees, mainly due to a 42% increase in premiums from single premium policies.

LIC's earnings were further aided by the reversal of a tax provision amounting to 76.93 billion rupees. The insurer said it included the amount in the "other income" section of its results.

LIC shares closed up 0.6% ahead of the results.

($1 = 83.1020 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Susan Fenton and Mark Potter)