HDFC Life Insurance on Wednesday reported a 28.5% year-on-year fall in its net profit at Rs 361.97 crore for the fourth quarter last fiscal on a consolidated basis as its expenses of management rose around 48% y-o-y during the period.

The insurer’s net profit had stood at Rs 506 crore for the fourth quarter of FY22. Net profit for Q4FY23 grew 14.58% quarter-on-quarter from Rs 315.91 crore in the Q3FY23.

Its net premium income rose 24.59% y-o-y at Rs 19,468.60 crore during the January-March period this year compared with Rs 15,624.90 crore in the same period last year, according to a stock exchange filing.

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First year premium during the fourth quarter last fiscal grew 55.24% y-o-y at Rs 4467.26 crore as against Rs 2877.59 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal, while renewal premium during the period increased by 11.15% y-o-y at Rs 9254.18 crore. During the period under review, expenses of management (EoM) rose to Rs 4037.01 crore from Rs 2729.35 crore for the year-ago period.

During March this year, HDFC Life witnessed a 83.45% growth in its first-year premiums, according to the data released by the Life Insurance Council.

This strong growth in new business premiums was due to a surge in the business of non-linked insurance policies with annual premium of more than Rs 5 lakh last month for pre-booking of such policies to escape the impact of taxation change announced in the Union Budget. According to industry analysts, HDFC LIFE reported strong APE (annual premium equivalent) growth in March 2023, driven by sales of high ticket size insurance products.

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Consolidated net profit for FY23 stood at Rs 1,368.28 crore, up 3.11% year-on-year. During the year, the life insurer saw 27% growth in individual WRP (weighted received premium) 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 three 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,” said Vibha Padalkar, MD & CEO.

“Our new business margin for the year was 27.6%, 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,” Padalkar added.

The company’s board proposed a final dividend of Rs 1.90 per share.