Life insurers Q2 numbers reveal a toss up between growth and profitability

Strong premium income growth of SBI Life and HDFC Life in Q2 cements the Street's conviction, and at 27.4 per cent, VNB margin I-Pru Life surprises investors

An interesting trend came out of the recently gone by September quarter (Q2) results of leading private sector life insurers – SBI Life, HDFC Life and ICICI Prudential Life (I-Pru Life). While HDFC Life and SBI Life led the segment with net premium income growth of 35 per cent and 27 per cent year-on-year, respectively, suggesting that the sector may have recouped from the pandemic faster than anticipated, I-Pru Life’s 6.3 per cent premium growth was a drag. Yet, I-Pru Life has