India's SBI Life posts higher quarterly profit, expects margins to improve (updated)

Sbi Life Insurance

24/07/2026 10:24

Q1 profit rises 22% on retail demand, group insurance premiums
APE jumps 36%, led by a fourfold surge in group insurance 
Insurer sees gains in higher-margin individual business
Adds margin guidance in paragraph 2, management commentary in paragraph 7
By Nishit Navin

    BENGALURU, July 24 (Reuters) - India's SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS reported a 22% rise in first-quarter profit on Friday, helped by strong demand for retail policies and higher premiums from group insurance.
The insurer also said it expects increased contribution of higher-margin individual policies in new businesses to drive up overall margins.
Net profit rose to 7.25 billion rupees ($75.11 million) for the quarter ended June 30, from 5.94 billion rupees a year earlier.
Annualised premium equivalent (APE), a standard measure of new business that combines regular and single premiums, jumped 36% to 53.8 billion rupees amid a fourfold increase in group insurance.
Value of new business margin — a measure of expected profit from new policies sold — fell to 26.2% from 27.4% a year earlier, near the lower end of the company's expected 26% to 28% range.
Overall margin shrank due to a sharp uptick in the share of lower-margin group business, booked in large, uneven batches, among new business during the quarter.
"We have definitely seen the margin bottoming out," SBI Life MD and CEO Amit Jhingran said in a post-earnings call. "Going forward, with higher focus on individual policies, margin is going to be towards the upper range of our guidance."
Last week, ICICI Prudential posted a near-15% rise in APE, while HDFC Life posted a 9% growth.
SBI Life's net premium income increased around 17% to 200.78 billion rupees. First-year premiums from new policies grew 40%, while renewal premiums increased 17.4%. 
In the individual business, the share of non-participating policies — which typically carry higher margins as insurers do not share profits with policyholders — jumped to 49% from 38% a year earlier.  

 ($1 = 96.5300 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
 ((Nishit.Navin@thomsonreuters.com;))