HDFC Life Insurance reported a muted growth in net profit for the third quarter at ₹421 crore, compared with ₹415 crore in the year-ago period. The country’s second-largest private life insurer saw total premium income rise 9% year-on-year to ₹18,803 crore during the quarter.
Operational Metrics
New business premium, including individual and group segments, grew 5% YoY to ₹8,328 crore in Q3FY26, while renewal premium rose 12% to ₹10,475 crore, indicating improved customer retention. However, expenses of management increased sharply by 30% to ₹4,533 crore, weighing on profitability.
Total Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE), a standard metric for new business sales that combines regular premium and one-tenth of single premium, stood at ₹3,974 crore, up 11% from a year ago. Individual APE grew 13% to ₹3,517 crore during the quarter, reflecting steady traction in the individual segment.
“The life insurance sector saw an acceleration in momentum during the third quarter, supported by recent policy reforms and a rising preference for protection-led solutions,” Vibha Padalkar, MD & CEO, HDFC Life Insurance, said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. She added that the GST exemption acted as a meaningful catalyst, particularly for the protection segment, improving affordability and driving a pickup in demand.
“We expect quarter four to build on the momentum theme in the last quarter with growth in FY’27 supported by continued strength in protection and sustained demand across saving segment,” Padalkar added.
ULIPs accounted for 43% of the product mix, followed by participating products at 27%, non-par savings at 19%, term at 7% and annuity at 4%. Bancassurance contributed 59% of the channel mix, while agency and non-bank alliances accounted for 18% and 15%, respectively.
Regulatory Navigation
The management also said the company has concluded discussions with distributors on a revised commission structure to mitigate the impact of input tax credit loss following GST changes, and has moved to the revised structure.
The company’s value of new business (VNB), which reflects profitability from new business written during the period, rose 3% YoY to ₹955 crore. Padalkar said that while an improved product mix helped expand margins by 110 basis points, this was largely offset by the GST impact.
“On an adjusted basis, VNB growth excluding the impact of GST and surrender regulation change would have been 13% for 9MFY26 and 11% for Q3 FY26,” she said.