Profit before tax stood at Rs 269.77 crore in Q4 FY23, registering a decline of 16.1% as against Rs 321.56 crore posted in the corresponding quarter previous year.

The life insurance company's standalone net profit increased 12.62% to Rs 1,360.13 crore on a 25.04% jump in net premium income to Rs 56,764.01 crore in FY23 over FY22.

The profit increased on yearly basis, despite the increased new business strain arising from higher growth in Q4. The profit emergence continued to be aided by strong growth of 27% in back book surplus, said the life insurer.

Assets under management (AuM) jumped 16.95% to Rs 2,38,782 crore in FY23 as compared to Rs 2,04,170 crore reported in FY22.

New business margin for the year was 27.6%, as against 27.4% for FY22, thereby delivering value of new business of Rs 3,674 crore which is a growth of 37%. Margin neutrality, after considering the acquired business, was achieved well ahead of target, said the company.

The company's embedded value (EV), as on 31 March 2023, was Rs 39,527 crore with an operating return on embedded value of 19.7% for FY23 as compared to 16.6% for FY22.

Our overall protection APE grew by about 20% in FY23. Retail protection trends remained encouraging with sequential growth being over 50% and YoY growth being over 40% in Q4.

The annuity business in FY23 grew by 18% on received premium basis compared to a 2% growth for the industry. APE growth was much higher at 59% due to a pickup in our regular premium annuity product - Systematic Retirement Plan during the year.

Solvency ratio as on 31 March 2023, stood at 203% as against 176% as of 31 March 2022.

Commenting on the FY23 performance, Vibha Padalkar, MD & CEO said “We closed the year with a strong growth of 27% in individual WRP with a market share of 16.5% and 10.8% in the private and overall sector respectively, clocking expansion of 40 and 70 basis points respectively. We continue to grow faster than the private industry and be ranked amongst the top 3 life insurers across individual and group businesses.

In terms of Individual WRP, we have outpaced the private industry over multiple timeframes including, in the past 3, 5 and 7 years, thereby consistently demonstrating growth leadership. There has been an increase in protection share in total NBP from 24% in FY22 to 29% in FY23.”

The company's board has proposed final dividend of Rs 1.90 per share, maintaining 30% payout ratio since FY17.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed HDFC Bank or HDFC to increase the shareholding to more than 50% in HDFC Life Insurance prior to the effective date of the HDFC Bank-HDFC merger.

HDFC Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between HDFC, India's leading housing finance institution and Abrdn (Mauritius Holdings) 2006, a global investment company. HDFC Life is a leading long-term life insurance solutions provider in India, offering a range of individual and group insurance solutions that meet various customer needs such as protection, pension, savings, investment, annuity and health.

The scrip rose 0.34% to end at Rs 531.90 on the BSE.