We should be third-largest listed pvt insurer in 3 yrs: Prashant Tripathy

Axis Max Life Insurance managing director and chief executive officer talks about the company's strategy for 2025-26

Following the company’s 2024–25 (FY25) fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings, PRASHANT TRIPATHY, managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Max Life Insurance, spoke to Subrata Panda and Aathira Varier about the company’s strategy for 2025–26 (FY26) and its ambition to become the third-largest listed private sector life insurance player in the next five years. Edited excerpts:

 

At a time when the industry has underperformed, how do you evaluate your FY25 performance? 

We ended FY25 with a market share of 9.8 per cent in the private sector life insurance space, gaining 37 basis points during the year. Our new policies grew 11 per cent. For two years in a row, we have been the fastest-growing life insurance company among peers. Our margins stood at 24 per cent, at the upper end of our guidance range. We were earlier fifth in the pecking order, but we ended FY25 in fourth place in terms of new sales. In fact, in the second half of FY25, we were third. Overall, all our product categories did well. We wrote more unit-linked policies (Ulips), driven by market sentiment. Despite having a higher Ulip mix, we managed to keep margins under control. In Q4, our margin was 28 per cent.

 

The Ulip component was high in FY25 at 42 per cent. Will you bring it down? 

Ideally, we would want Ulips to make up 35–40 per cent of our product mix. We want to bring it down, and in April, it did come down. I would be happy if it settled in the 35–37 per cent range — a five-percentage-point reduction from the current 42 per cent. Consequently, we want to write more non-par and protection products. We are not far from our ideal product mix. We hope to keep non-par at about 30 per cent, par at 15–20 per cent, and the balance in annuities and protection.

 

Where do you see your margin heading in FY26? 

Our margin guidance for FY26 is between 24 per cent and 25 per cent. So, we should improve our margins. And our value of new business growth should be higher than sales growth.

 

Have you moved to bond forwards? 

The activity in bond forwards is going to pick up. We are very soon going to transition from bond forward rate agreements to bond forwards. We believe bond forwards are a much more favourable instrument than bond forward rate agreements. 

 

The bancassurance channel has come under the scanner for mis-selling… 

A few measures are being implemented. Everyone has worked on onboarding processes — video verification, customer calls, restricting sales to senior citizens, and avoiding large ticket sizes. The free-look period has been increased from 15 to 30 days. So, multiple steps are being taken. As a result, overall customer outcomes have started to improve. Large bank distribution partners are committed to ensuring that any customer issues are addressed with utmost importance. Banks contribute more than 55 per cent of private players’ sales.

 

What is the update on your listing plans? 

We have started preparing. The draft Insurance Amendment Bill paves the way for merging holding companies with insurance companies. Once the Act is amended, it will clear the path for our listing. We are very keen. We want to do it as soon as the flexibility is available. We have been quasi-listed for a long time — we were the first ones. What will change is that instead of Max Financial Services, Axis Max Life Insurance will come under the purview of the markets regulator.

 

What is the status of Bima Sugam? 

It is being pursued and will gain more momentum as we go along. It was discussed in the last Bima Manthan meeting, and we are looking to launch it this year.

 

What is your vision for the company over the next three years? 

In five years, we should be the third-largest listed private sector player. We are working towards that goal. Over the next year and a half, we would like to complete the merger with Max Financial Services.

 

Would you look at entering the health insurance space if regulations allow? 

We would definitely like to build our franchise in the health insurance space as soon as regulations allow.