Profit at ICICI Pru Life to be "delayed"

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, the largest private sector life insurer,
is likely to see a "delay" in reporting net profit because of unexpected growth in business.

"Risk firms are expected to make net profits in around six years of operations. However, there is likely to be a delay in our (ICICI Prudential) case because of our efforts to tap a greater pie of the growing market," Sandeep Batra, chief financial officer of ICICI Prudential Life, said.

"In every new policy that we sell, we make a loss. Our expense ratio was
around 14% last year. We need to reduce that to single digit," he added.

SBI Life became the first private life insurer to post net profit in 2005-06.

Batra was speaking to reporters at the launch of two new products -- 
InvestShield Life and Immediate Annuity.

InvestShield Life is a premium guarantee product where the exposure to equity is limited to 40%. The product is available for a minimum premium of Rs 8,000 per year for a policy term ranging between 10-30 years.

Immediate Annuity targets people between 45-80 years of age, and comes with an annuity card via which an annuitant can access income from Visa locations and enter into cash-free transactions at merchant establishments.