SBI Life Insurance Company conducted a conference call on 26 April 2023 to discuss financial results for the quarter ended March 2023. Mahesh Kumar Sharma, MD&CEO of the company addressed the call:

Highlights:

The Company has maintained its leadership position in Individual Rated Premium of Rs 15220 crore with 22.3% private market share in FY23. There is strong growth in Individual New Business Premium by 16% to Rs 5670 crore in Q4FY23. New Business Premium (NBP) increased 21% to Rs 8080 crore in Q4FY23.

The company has posted strong growth in Individual New Business Premium by 27% to Rs 20910 crore in FY23. New Business Premium (NBP) has grew by 16% to Rs 29590 crore in FY23 aided by growth in Regular premium business by 17%.

Gross Written Premium (GWP) increased 14% to Rs 20020 crore in Q4FY23 mainly due to 21% jump in First Year Premium (FYP), while Renewal Premium (RP) increased 10% in Q4FY23.

Gross Written Premium (GWP) has grew by 15% to Rs 67320 crore in FY23 mainly due to 17% growth in Regular Premium (FYP) and 13% growth in Renewal Premium (RP) in FY23.

The company has posted 14% increase in net premium collection to Rs 19896.92 crore in Q4FY2023, aided by 10% growth in the renewal business to Rs 11940 crore, while new business premium jumped 21% to Rs 8080 crore in Q4FY2023.

The policies sales of the company increased 14% to 2.2 million in FY2023. The sum assured has increased 13% against 12% growth for the industry.

The company expects growth momentum to sustain at 20-25% in FY24, as demand remains robust.

The company expects the demand to remain healthy despite new tax regime.

The company exhibited strong growth in 37th month and 61st month persistency in FY23 by 236 bps and 612 bps respectively due to focus on improving the quality of business and customer retention. 13th month persistency is 88.91% in FY23 from 88.35% in FY22. Persistency ratio has improved in FY23 in majority of cohorts.

AuM grew by 15% from Rs 267410 crore end March 2022 to Rs 307340 crore end March 2023 with debt-equity mix of 71:29. Over 94% of the debt investments are in AAA and Sovereign instruments.

The Company has strong distribution network of 275,374 trained insurance professionals consisting of agents, CIFs and SPs along with widespread operations with 992 offices across country.

Protection New Business Premium has increased by 19% from Rs 3050 crore in FY22 to Rs 3640 crore in FY23 due to growth in individual protection business by 6% to Rs 1000 crore and growth in group protection business by 25% to Rs 2640 crore in FY23.

APE channel mix for FY23 is bancassurance channel 64%, agency channel 26% & other channels 10%.

NBP of Agency channel has increased by 19% to Rs 5490 crore in FY23 and NBP of Banca channel has increased by 33% to Rs 17830 crore in FY23 as compared to same period last year.

The banca partners other than SBI have been growing at a healthy pace and the momentum would continue.

VoNB increased by 37% to Rs 5070 crore for FY23. VoNB margin increased 420 bps to 30.1% in FY23.

The company expects margins to remain in the range of 29-30%. The focus of the company is on expanding VNB and EV.

The company would review its commission payouts to all distribution partners with an aims to grow each channels.