Leading private sector life insurer HDFC Life has reported a 15 per cent on-year growth in net income at Rs 479 crore, driven by both higher renewal as well as first-year premia collections in the June quarter.
The net premium income for the quarter came in at Rs 12,548 crore, up 9 per cent from Rs 11,508 crore in the corresponding period previous year. Its annualised premium equivalent (APE), which is a measure of new business written by a life insurer, grew 23 per cent to Rs 2,866 crore.
However, the key new business (VNB) margin, the present value of future profit from the policies underwritten during the quarter, shrunk 120 basis points 9 per cent at Rs 6,400 crore while the VNB margin stood at 25 per cent. Yet, the value of new business jumped 18 per cent on-year to Rs 718 crore, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Vibha Padalkar, the company's chief executive, said they have started the year on a strong note, achieving 31 per cent annualized growth in individual APE, which implies a two-year annualized growth of 21 per cent, driven by a comprehensive performance across all metrics.
Following the earnings, the shares of HDFC Life extended gains, and closed at 04 per cent up ar Rs 638.05 on the BSE against the index notching up .2 per cent.
Meanwhile, the company’s chairman Keki Mistry, addressing the shareholders at the fourth annual general meeting said being a largely under-insured market, the country has huge potential for faster growth as the overall life insurance penetration is a low 3.2 per cent and to increase this we need to go the to tier 2 and 3 cities.
The life insurance industry grew by 2 per cent both in terms of new business premia at Rs 3.78 trillion as well as the number of policies sold in FY24, while the private insurers grew 12 per cent on premium basis and 9 per cent in terms of number of policies sold during the year.
HDFC Life closed FY24 with a market share of 15.4 per cent among the private sector companies and an overall market share of 10.4 per cent and AUM stood at Rs 2.92 trillion with an embedded value stood at Rs 47,468 crores.