SBI Life Insurance Company Limited

SBI Life delivered a robust H1 FY26, with new business premium growing 17% to INR 183.5 billion and gross written premium increasing 19% to INR 429 billion. Profit after tax rose 4% to INR 10.89 billion, while the Value of New Business (VoNB) expanded 14% to INR 27.5 billion, achieving a healthy VoNB margin of 27.8%, a 98 basis point gain. The company's embedded value stood at INR 760 billion, up 15%, and Assets Under Management reached INR 4.81 trillion, growing 10%.

The company strategically shifted its product mix, with the protection segment showing robust performance, growing 33% year-on-year on an APE basis. Individual pure protection saw exceptional growth of 143% on an APE basis, contributing to the company's goal of increasing protection share to above 10% of APE. New products like Smart Shield Plus and Smart Money Back Plus were well-received, with Smart Shield Plus contributing 11% of total protection sum assured.

Management acknowledged the transitional impact of recent GST reforms, which led to increased GST expenses and some pressure on profitability, with an 80 basis point impact on H1 VoNB margins. However, the company passed the entire GST benefit to customers and enhanced product benefits. They expect product mix adjustments and operational efficiencies in H2 FY26 to largely absorb the remaining impact, aiming to maintain margins within the 26-28% range or limit impact to 20-30 bps.

After some underperformance until August, the company tweaked certain norms, leading to a positive environment in September, with individual September month numbers showing around 15% growth. Management expects this trend to continue in H2, enabling them to meet their full-year guidance for these dominant distribution channels. Bancassurance (SBI & RRBs) contributed 57% of total APE business, growing 7% on an individual APE basis, while other banks (non-SBI Group) grew 29%.

SBI Life continues to leverage digitalization, with 99% of individual proposals submitted digitally and 59% processed through automated underwriting. The company emphasized its customer-first approach, maintaining a 99% death claim settlement ratio and a low mis-selling ratio of 0.02%. They also highlighted their commitment to not pass GST costs to policyholders in participating products, reinforcing their competitive cost structure.

The company's solvency ratio remained strong at 1.94, well above the regulatory requirement of 1.50, indicating robust financial health. While the opex ratio increased slightly to 6.2% and total cost ratio to 10.9% for H1 FY26, management stated this was in line with planned expansion, including opening 44 new branches and increasing employee count by over 3,500, contributing to the operating expenses.