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    SBI Life Insurance Company Limited

    SBILIFENeutral
    Financial Services·28 Jan 2026
    Management Summary

    SBI Life delivered a strong Q3 with AUM crossing INR 5 trillion, marking a significant milestone. Growth was driven by volume expansion across channels and product diversification, with protection growing 24% and par products surging 116% on a new Money Back launch. The GST impact on commissions reduced reported PAT growth to 4%, but adjusted for this and labor law impact, underlying growth was 34%. VONB margin at 27.2% is within guidance of 26-28%, with management confident of limiting net GST impact to 30-40 bps by year-end through product mix optimization. Q3 is seasonally the strongest quarter and management maintained 13-14% full-year APE growth guidance with positive bias.

    Highlights

    13

    • AUM crossed INR 5 trillion milestone (INR 5.12 trillion, +16% YoY)

    • New Business Premium INR 313.3 billion, +19% growth; private market share 23.5%

    • Individual Rated Premium (IRP) INR 166.8 billion, +15% growth; private market share 25.6%

    • VNB of INR 50.4 billion, +17% YoY; VONB margin 27.2% (up 34 bps YoY)

    • Q3 VNB of INR 22.9 billion, +22% YoY

    • PAT of INR 16.7 billion, +4% growth (impacted by GST and labor law changes)

    • Excluding GST/labor law impact, adjusted PAT would be INR 21.5 billion (+34%)

    • Indian Embedded Value INR 801.3 billion, +18% YoY

    • Protection APE grew 24% YoY; pure protection grew 98% on individual APE basis

    • Par products grew 116% YoY on individual APE basis (new Money Back product)

    • Solvency at 1.91x vs 1.50x regulatory requirement

    • 13th month persistency improved 101 bps to 87.1%

    • GST impact on VONB margin: 110 bps YTD, expected ~150 bps annualized, offset by product mix leaving ~30-40 bps net impact

    What Changed2

    vs Q4 FY26

    Risks discussed2 → 5 (+3)Q&A highlights8 → 5 (-3)
    Key financials

    Metrics

    17

    Periods

    3

    Headline

    5
    • Indian Embedded Value
      $801.3B
      YoY+18%
    • AUM
      $5120B
      YoY+16%
    • Solvency Ratio
      1.91 x
    • 13th Month Persistency
      87.1%
    • Labor Law Impact
      $1.35B

    Q3

    1
    • VNB
      $22.9B
      YoY+22%

    9M

    11
    • New Business Premium
      $313.3B
      YoY+19%
    • Individual Rated Premium
      $166.8B
      YoY+15%
    • Gross Written Premium
      $733.5B
      YoY+20%
    • PAT
      $16.7B
      YoY+4%
    • Adjusted PAT ex-GST/labor
      $21.5B
      YoY+34%

    Guidance & targets

    5
    CategoryTargetPriority
    Growth
    Full year APE growth
    13-14%
    		High
    Growth
    FY27 growth
    Not lower than current growth rate
    		Medium
    Profitability
    VONB Margin guidance
    26-28%
    		High
    Profitability
    Net GST impact on VONB margin
    30-40 bps (net of product mix offset)
    		High
    Product Mix
    Par product target share
    15-20% of business
    		Medium

    Risks & concerns

    7
    RiskSeverity

    GST impact on commissions reducing reported profitability

    GST on individual policy commissions reducing PAT growth from 34% to 4%. 150 bps annualized VONB margin impact. Partially offset by product mix but structural going forward. — Both acknowledged

    medium

    Solvency ratio at multi-year low of 1.91x

    Strong protection growth consuming solvency margin. Historically ranges 192-202x. Dividend payment causes further 10-15 percentage point drop in Q4. — Analyst downplayed

    medium

    ULIP concentration still high at 68%

    ULIP share declined from 72% to 68% but remains high. Market-linked products vulnerable to equity market volatility. Management targeting diversification via par and non-par. — Analyst acknowledged

    medium

    Potential commission capping regulation

    Industry discussions on commission capping. SBI Life claims readiness as lowest cost operator in industry. — Analyst acknowledged

    low

    61st month persistency decline (COVID cohort)

    61st month persistency declined - attributed to COVID-era policy cohort. Expected to be last impacted cohort. Other persistency metrics improving. — Both acknowledged

    low

    Areas of Evasion(2)

    • Individual product-level margins not disclosed
    • FY27 guidance deferred

    Q&A highlights

    5

    “full year business impact is around 150 basis point. YTD basis, it's 110 basis point... by the end of the year, most of the impact will get offset by the better product mix and maybe left with 30-40 basis point”

    Clear waterfall: 150 bps gross GST impact on annualized basis, offset by better product mix (more non-par, par, protection), leaving only 30-40 bps net impact on VONB margin

    asked by Madhukar Lada (JPMorgan)

    1 min read4 chapters

    Detailed Narrative

    01

    AUM Crosses INR 5 Trillion - Scale Milestone

    AUM reached INR 5.12 trillion, growing 16% YoY. This reflects sustained customer confidence, disciplined fund management, and growing market presence. SBI Life outperformed the overall industry on IRP basis in December, gaining 68 bps in private market share in Q3 and 192 bps on total rated premium basis.

    02

    GST Impact Management

    GST exemption on individual policies improved affordability but commission GST creates 150 bps annualized VONB margin headwind. Through deliberate product mix management - growing non-par (+20%), par (+116%), and protection (+24%) faster than ULIP - management is offsetting this to just 30-40 bps net impact. Reported PAT growth impacted from 34% to 4% after GST (INR 4.8 billion) and labor law (INR 1.35 billion) provisions.

    03

    Product Diversification Strategy Bearing Fruit

    ULIP share declined from 72% to 68% of individual APE. Par products surged 116% to INR 12.3 billion APE on new Money Back Plus (INR 5.6 billion) and child products. Protection grew 24% overall with pure protection at 98% growth. Non-par savings grew 20%. Agency channel non-ULIP share increased from 31% to 37%. Company targeting 15-20% par mix in medium term.

    04

    Distribution Expansion and Productivity

    SBI bancassurance contributing 62% of total APE with 16% growth. SBI branch productivity at INR 6.4 million, up 15%. Agency individual APE at INR 48.8 billion (+11%) with productivity at INR 3 lakh despite adding 94,000 gross agents. 66 new branches opened. Online channel growing 45%. Other channels (DCA, brokers, web aggregators) up 33%. 1.5 lakh policies sold on YONO platform (pure protection).

    This is an AI-generated summary of a publicly available earnings call transcript. It is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an endorsement. inve.money is not a SEBI-registered investment advisor. Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.