Vibha Padalkar, MD & CEO, HDFC Life Insurance
HDFC Life Insurance has reported a 15.76 per cent year-on-year rise in its net profit to ₹476.54 crore for the fourth quarter last fiscal. What were the factors that contributed to this growth?
Mainly the back-book profit, which means that the policies that we sold all the years before this year (FY25), are nicely generating profit. Persistency is also good, so still the policies are on our books, and as the customers pay their premium, we collect the charges out of that, and that has accumulated to a good number. Growth in that (Back-book profit) has been 18 per cent for the quarter.
During the quarter, net premium income also grew 15.99 per cent y-o-y to ₹23,765.56 crore…
All the categories grew very well. In fact, our protection segment grew almost 19 per cent y-o-y for the quarter. Annuity also grew very well, it grew 19 per cent on year. So it has been fairly holistic growth. Annuities are mostly single premium, which posted a very good growth. Also, some of our unit-linked single premium products registered good growth. Group also grew fairly well.
All the categories grew very well. In fact, our protection segment grew almost 19 per cent y-o-y for the quarter. Annuity also grew very well, it grew 19 y-o-y per cent as well. So it has been fairly holistic growth. Annuities are mostly single premium, which posted a very good growth. Also, some of our unit-linked single premium products registered good growth. Group also grew fairly well.
How did the ULIPs segment perform during Q4FY25 amid market volatility?
ULIPs saw fairly good levels of growth. So, there has been no particular slowdown in unit-linked. We saw about a 13 per cent y-o-y growth in the quarter. Actually, the volatility hasn’t really impacted unit-linked, at least for now. I can’t say going forward, but at least for now, we’re not really seeing. People may be thinking that this also will pass. Usually the people who buy a unit-linked product are slightly older. They are a little bit more experienced.
In percentage terms, how much does ULIPs constitute the company’s annualised premium equivalent (APE)? Do you see the percentage might change going forward?
About 39 per cent currently. It moves a little bit. But we would like it to be range bound. We would like to bring it down to about may be 35-36 per cent. We would like to grow the Par (participating insurance plans) segment further.
How much did APE grow during the last quarter?
It grew almost 10 per cent at the total level. Given all the volatility and so on, we will grow faster than the sector ( in terms of APE) in FY26. We will also deliver a range bound margin. So, our VNB (Value of New Business) will be in line with the APE growth. VNB grew 12 per cent y-o-y for the quarter. VNB margin grew 40 basis points y-o-y at 26.5 per cent. The VNB margin growth will be range bound for the current financial year.
Published on April 17, 2025
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