By Ben Otto

People's Insurance Co. (Group) of China Ltd. posted a 19% fall in net profit in the first half as higher tax expenses and claims incurred offset a rise in written premiums income.

The Beijing-based insurance company said Friday that net profit fell to 12.61 billion yuan ($1.82 billion) from CNY15.48 billion in the same period a year ago.

Net earned premiums rose 6.5% to CNY279.52 billion, while total income rose 6.9% to CNY307.93 billion, it said. 



  Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com