SBI Life Insurance conducted a conference call on 18 January 2019 to discuss its financial results for the quarter ended December 2018. Sanjeev Nautiyal, MD&CEO of the company addressed call:

• The company posted strong 35% growth in gross written premium (GWP) to Rs 21610 crore in 9MFY2019, driven by 39% surge in individual renewal premium to Rs 11400 crore and also due to increase in group single premium by 148% to Rs 2760 crore. The company expects GWP growth of 35% for FY2019.
• The company has posted strong 32% growth in New Business Premium (NBP) to Rs 9470 crore, while renewal premium also jumped 37% to Rs 12140 crore in 9MFY2019.
• Individual rated premium (IRP) has increased by 14% to Rs 6110 crore in 9MFY2019.
• Individual New Business Premium has shown consistent growth and increased 14% to Rs 6600 crore in 9MFY2019.
• Individual unit linked New Business Premium has increased 19% to Rs 4970 crore in 9MFY2019.
• The company would be focusing on 4 key parameters a) increasing protection share, b) customer engagement, c) Digitization and d) learning & development.
• The Company has registered growth in savings and protection business reflecting balanced product mix.
• Total protection new business premium has increased by 170.1% to Rs 1060 crore in 9MFY2019 from Rs 390 crore in 9MFY2018.
• The share of total protection NBP (individual and group) has increased to 11.2% in 9MFY2019 from 5.4% in 9MFY2018.
• New Business APE increased 12.8% to Rs 6600 crore in 9MFY2019 from Rs 5850 crore for the same period last year.
• The total cost ratio has declined to 11.0% in 9MFY2019 from 12.3% in 9MFY2018. The commission ratio has decreased to 4.1% in 9MFY2019 from 4.6% in 9MFY2018. Operating Expense ratio stood at 6.9% in 9MFY2019 as against 7.7% in 9MFY2018.
• Value of New Business (VoNB) increased by 23.8% to Rs 1160 crore in 9MFY2019. VoNB margin increased by 150 bps from 16% in 9M FY2018 to 17.5% in 9MFY2019.
• The 13th month persistency was robust at 83.3% in 9MFY2019 as compared to 81.5% in 9MFY2018.
• AuM has grown by 20% from Rs 111630 crore end December 2017 to Rs 134150 crore end December 2018 with debt-equity mix of 78:22. 90% of the debt investments are in AAA and Sovereign instruments.
• Return on Equity (RoE) stood at 17.1% in 9MFY2019 as compared to 16.7% in 9MFY2018.
• The Company has strong distribution network of 174651 trained insurance professional and widespread operations with 859 offices across country. NBP channel mix for 9MFY2019 is bancassurance channel 65%, agency channel 21%, and other channels 14%.
• The surrender ratio of the company stood at 5.2% in 9MFY2019 as compared to 7.4% for last year.
• The company has entered into Bancassurance tie-up with Allahabad Bank and Syndicate Bank which have branch network of more than 3000 branches each and should further strengthen distribution network of the company.