HDFC Life reports 19% jump in Q2 earnings as policy sales pick up

India's HDFC Life Insurance Company on Friday reported a 19% increase in second-quarter profit from increased policy sales, as more people sought cover in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Standalone profit-after-tax was 3.26 billion Indian rupees ($39.42 million) for the quarter ended Sept.30 compared with 2.74 billion rupees, the insurer said in a regulatory filing.

Its net premium income rose 14.6% on-year to 131.11 billion rupees.

"We have grown in line with the industry and faster than listed peers this quarter which also led to market share improvement," said Vibha Padalkar, managing director and chief executive officer, adding the insurer's share was now 15% on a pre-merger basis.

HDFC Life Insurance completed its merger with Bengaluru-based battery maker Exide Life Insurance on October 14, the first ever M&A transaction in the Indian life insurance sector.

Value of new business margin, a measure of the expected profitability of new business, rose 27.6% in the first half.

Embedded value, a measure of future cash flows in life insurance companies and a key financial gauge for insurers, was up 15% on-year to 330.2 billion rupees as on September-end.

Indian life insurers saw a growth of 38% in new business premium income in the first half of the year to 1.82 trillion rupees, according to data released by the Life Insurance Council earlier this month.

Growth in September, however, declined 8.86% compared to a year ago.

Shares of HDFC Life were trading at 0.2%, up 2.1% from the previous close on NSE.

($1 = 82.6900 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Neha Arora)