SBI Life's Q1 net profit rises 45%, value of new business drops

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

SBI Life Insurance reported a 45% growth in net profit during the first quarter of the fiscal year.Net premium income rose 19% during the first quarter of the fiscal year to ₹13,105 crore. Despite the overall positive financial performance, the value of new business (VNB) margin dropped to 28.8% from 30.4% due to a decline in non-par products during the quarter. However, SBI Life Insurance is optimistic about steady growth in the non-par segment moving forward.

The company reported ₹380 crore profit compared to ₹260 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. During the Q1 FY 24, the company's value of new business (VNB) rose to ₹870 crore. The company also saw a surge in the popularity of unit-linked plans during this quarter, indicating a shift in customer preferences towards investment-linked insurance products.

At the same time, non-par products constituted around 21% of the total share in Q1 FY 24, a decline from 24% recorded in the previous year due to tax advantage going away from April 1 for high ticket size non-par policies. Despite a slight decrease in the 13th month persistence rate, falling to 85% from 85.6%, the 61st month persistence saw improvement, rising to 56.7% from 50.3%. The assets under management (AUM) grew 25% to 3,28,280 crore as of June 30, 2023 from 2,62,350 crore as of June 30, 2022 with the debt-equity mix remaining stable at 69:31, with over 94% of the company’s debt investments are in AAA and Sovereign instruments.