Bajaj Finserv Limited (NSE: BAJAJFINSV) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Feb. 06, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Ramandeep Singh Sahni — Group Chief Financial Officer
Vipin Bansal — Chief Financial Officer
Avesh Karmali — CFO, Bajaj General Insurance
Ashish Panchal — MD and CEO, Bajaj Finserv Direct
Tapan Singhel — CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
Ganesh Mohan — MD, Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Limited
S. Sreenivasan — President, Insurance and Special Projects
Analysts:
Raghvesh Sharan — Analyst
Nischint Chawathe — Analyst
Satvik Kanabar — Analyst
Uday Pai — Analyst
Shobhit Sharma — Analyst
Divij Punjabi — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Bajaj Finserv Limited Q3 FY 2026 Analyst Conference Call hosted by JM Financial. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Raghavesh. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Raghavesh.
Raghvesh Sharan — Analyst
Thank you, Ranju. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Q3FY26 earnings conference call of Bajaj Finserv Limited. First, I would like to thank the management of Bajaj Finserv for giving us the opportunity to host this call. As always, we’ll have opening comments from the management team post which we’ll open the floor for Q and A.
From the management side today, we have Mr. S. Sreenivasan, President, Insurance and Special Projects, Bajaj Finserv Limited; Mr. Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited; Mr. Tapan Singhel, MD and CEO, Bajaj General Insurance Limited; Mr. Tarun Chugh, MD and CEO, Bajaj Life Insurance; Mr. Avesh Karmali, CFO, Bajaj General Insurance; Mr. Vipin Bansal, CFO, Bajaj Life Insurance; Mr. Ashish Panchal, MD and CEO, Bajaj Finserv Direct; Mr. Devang Mody, MD and CEO, Bajaj Finserv Health; and Mr. Ganesh Mohan, MD, Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Limited.
With this, I would hand over the floor to Ramandeep, sir, for his opening comments. Thanks, and over to you, sir.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni — Group Chief Financial Officer
Thank you. Good morning, everybody. We welcome you to the conference call to discuss the results of Bajaj Finserve Limited BFS for Quarter Three FY26. As before in this call, we will largely be concentrating on the consolidated results of BFS. The results of our insurance operations through Bajaj General Insurance Ltd. and Bajaj Life Insurance Ltd. Our emerging companies, which include Bajaj Finserve Health, Bajaj Finserve Direct and Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Company and lastly, where material the standalone results of BFS. Bajaj Finance, BFL and Bajaj Housing Finance BHFL are the major subsidiaries of ours have already had their conference calls and hence we would pursue only very high-level questions on BFL and BHFL.
To start with a few hygiene points as usual.
As a word of caution, we affirm that any statements that may look forward-looking statements are just estimates and do not constitute an assurance or indication of any future performance result. Let me also give you an update on the basis of accounting, which we follow across the group as required by the regulations. Bajaj Finserv prepares its financials in compliance with Indian accounting standards, Ind AS. The insurance companies, however, are not covered under Ind AS. They prepare Ind AS financials only for the purpose of consolidation. Accordingly, for Bajaj General and Bajaj Life, standalone numbers reported are based on non Ind AS accounting standard referred to as Indian GAAP as applicable to insurance companies.
I’ll start by giving you an update on our joint venture with Allianz. I am happy to confirm that on 8th January ’26, Bajaj Finserv Limited along with its promoter group companies namely Bajaj Holdings and Investment Limited and Jamnalal Sons Private Limited, successfully completed the acquisition of 23% equity stake held by Allianz SE in the two insurance subsidiaries. Consequent to this transaction, the Bajaj Group collectively holds 97% equity stake in each of the two insurance subsidiaries and the JV between us and Allianz SE stands terminated. As regards the remaining 3% equity stake held by Allianz SE in each of the insurance companies, the boards of the respective companies have approved to offer a buyback to its shareholders subject to applicable law and necessary approvals.
This buyback on one hand will conclude the buyout of Allianz stake and on the other hand will also strengthen the ROE and ROEV of both our insurance subsidiaries going forward. Post the buyback, the holding of the insurance subsidiaries by the Bajaj Group is expected to be as follows. 77.33% by Bajaj Finserve, 18.1% by Bajaj Holdings and the remaining 4.57% by Jamnalal Sons Private Limited. I will now jump into the high-level update on the consolidated results for the quarter. The same has also been put in our press release dated 4th February ’26. Before we get into the results, we would like to call out on two exceptional items which color the results for the quarter.
The first one being the one-time impact of the new Labor Code, which impacts the bottom line by close to about INR380 crores at a gross level across all our companies. However, this has a net consolidated PAT impact for BFS of about INR167 crores. The second one-off is the accelerated ECL provision made by Bajaj Finance during the quarter to enhance its balance sheet resilience by implementing a minimum LGD floor across all its businesses. This has an impact of about INR1406 crores on BFL’s results on gross basis with a net consolidated PAT impact of about INR540 crores for Bajaj Finserve.
As for the results now, the consolidated total income grew 24% to about INR39,708 crores versus INR32,042 crores for the same period — for the same quarter last year, the consolidated profit after tax before accelerated ECL provision of BFL and the one-time charge of new labor code grew by 32% to about INR2,936 crores versus INR2,231 crores for the same quarter last year. The consolidated profit after tax before the accelerated ECL provision, the one-time charge of the new labor code excluding the MTM gains and losses and including the realized equity gain booked under OCI by the insurance companies, the PAT grew by 13%.
Let me now deep dive and give you further texture on the performance of each of our subsidiaries. To start with, Bajaj General. For the quarter Bajaj General ranked first amongst private players on GDPI basis while maintaining its market share. The GWP for the quarter three increased by 11.5% to about INR7389 crores versus INR6626 crores for the same quarter last year. Excluding the bulky tender-driven crop and government health business, the GWP increased by 17.2%. In terms of GDPI growth, the growth was a healthy 17.7%, largely in line with the industry growth. The growth is largely attributable to the motor and health segments, partially offset by degrowth in crop insurance largely arising from pricing pressures, which we’ve discussed in the past.
The underwriting loss for the quarter was at about INR137 crores versus a loss of INR43 crores for the same period last year, largely impacted by the one-off impact of a labor wage quote of INR42 crores and higher acquisition cost during the period attributable to focus on preferred business segments being written by the company. The combined ratio stood at a very very healthy 97.9% for the quarter as against 101.1% for the same quarter last year. We believe that this combined ratio for Bajaj General will be amongst the lowest in the multi-line market, with ROE reasonably above 22% excluding the surplus capital at 200% solvency.
The adjusted PAT before the impact of new labor code for the quarter stood at INR430 crores versus INR400 crores for the same period last year. A growth of about 8%. AUM for Bajaj stood at about INR36,417 crores versus INR32,633 crores for the same period last year, an increase of almost 12%. In summary, these operating results, including combined ratio and ROE, underscore Bajaj General’s disciplined focus on delivering balance and profitable growth supported by strong risk selections, robust distribution capabilities, prudent underwriting and a continued emphasis on exceptional customer service. I’ll now move to Bajaj Life. Bajaj Life 2.0 was initiated in the second half of Life last year with a focus on sustainable and profitable growth.
Happy to confirm that the financial outcomes are as planned in the course of Bajaj Lives 2.0. The impact of change in strategy is now reflected in the third quarter results wherein Bajaj Life registered the highest ever value of new business and the new business margins on YTD basis over the last decade. The retail weighted received premium growth has now been reinstated with a growth of 19.9% from INR1,549 crores last year for the quarter to about INR1,856 crores largely in line with the industry growth. This was backed by a retail protection contributing to 9% of the overall retail business with a growth of 47% for the quarter.
Group protection has also registered a healthy growth of about 29%. The VNB for the quarter grew at a healthy 59%, up from INR254 crores for the same quarter last year to about INR405 crores during the quarter. The new business margin NBM is up at 19% for the quarter as against 15.1% for the same quarter last year. On the back of continued strong renewal premium growth of 20.9%, Bajaj Life’s GWP grew 23.5% during the quarter. Persistency dips were however observed across a few cohorts in line with the industry, which are being worked upon by the company.
On overall retail-weighted receipt premium basis, the product mix for the quarter was well balanced and stood as follows. PAR was at 23%, non-PAR savings at 14%, term at 9%, annuities at 11% and ULIPs at 44%. The profit after tax was impacted during the quarter largely by the new labor code to the tune of INR43 crores and the loss of input tax credit from the GST change which we saw during the last quarter. Bajaj Life ended the quarter with AUM of INR138,000 crores, up at about 13% from the same period last year. The company is also in the process of setting up a pension fund management business and a branch in the GIFT City for which a process of regular approvals has been initiated.
Overall, the quarter for Bajaj Life is in line with the expectations and on the right trajectory of sustainable and profitable growth. Finally, both the insurance companies are financially amongst the most solvent in the industry, Bajaj Life with 333% solvency and Bajaj General with about 344%, and hence are well poised to weather any external adversity. We must, however, reiterate that insurance is a long-term business, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to drive profitable growth, create sustainable value, and always prioritize the interests of our policyholders. I’ll now move to our lending businesses, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Housing Finance.
To start with, Bajaj Finance. The core performance remained robust across business volumes, AUM, opex, credit cost and profitability. Number of new loans booked during the quarter was at about INR1.39 crores as against INR1.2 crores in the same period last year, a growth of 15%. The company’s diversified business model has enabled its AUM to grow at a strong 22.1% at about INR485,883 crores. The net total income grew by about 19% to INR13,817 crores as against INR11,673 crores for the same quarter last year. The profit after tax before the impact of the new labor codes and the accelerated ECL provision grew by a very healthy 23.3% during the quarter from about INR4,246 crores to INR5,227 crores.
The opex to net total income improved to 32.8% as against 33.1% for the same period last year. The net loan losses and provisions for the quarter before the accelerated ECL provision of INR1406 crores was at about INR2219 crores in the quarter as against INR2042 crores for the same quarter last year, an increase of only about 9%. In quarter three, net decrease in stage two and three assets were at about INR93 crores reflecting significant improvement in portfolio quality and a positive outlook on credit cost year on. The GNPA and NNPA stood at 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively, as of the December end as against 1.2% and about 0.48% for the same period last year.
Capital adequacy remains strong at 21.4% as at 31st December with a Tier 1 capital of about 20.6%. Moving now to Bajaj Housing Finance Ltd, the mortgage subsidiary of BFL. It was a stable quarter with AUM growth of 23.2% driven by good momentum and disbursement amidst higher portfolio attrition. Growth was very well distributed across all the business segments. The home loans AUM grew 18%, loan against property grew 32%, lease rental discounting grew 39% and developer finance by 18%. Net interest income grew 19% to INR1,153 crores as against INR933 crores for the same quarter last year. Operating efficiencies continued with opex to net total income at healthy 19% as against 19.8% for the same quarter last year.
Healthy asset quality was maintained with the GNPA and NNPA at about 0.27 and 0.11 as of December 31st. PAT before impact of new labor codes grew 23.2% to a healthy INR675 crores for the quarter. Capital adequacy ratio stood at 23.15% as at December end with a Tier 1 capital of 22.69%. In summary, another very strong quarter for both our lending companies BFL and BHFL. Now I’ll quickly give you an update on our emerging companies. To start with, Bajaj Finserv Health in quarter three carried out about 6.2 million healthcare transactions as against 2.1 million transactions for the same quarter last year.
Bajaj Finserve Health continued to expand its provider network, which includes about 134,000 doctors, about 16,000 hospitals, and upwards of 6,300 lab touch points. Utilizing this network strength and its tech platform, Bajaj Health is able to offer integrated OPD, IPD and wellness experience to both retail as well as corporate customers. During the quarter, the revenue from operations of Bajaj Finserve Health grew at a healthy 22% moving to Bajaj markets. During the quarter the lending of — in the BFSI space in the form of disbursements stood at about INR1800 crores for the quarter as against INR1549 crores for the preceding quarter, which was quarter two of FY26.
The company ended with a total unique partner count of 101. Top line for the company was impacted during the last few quarters and was down from about INR156 crores for the same quarter last year to about INR94 crores in the current quarter. This was due to a planned transition of software where we are moving to SFDC for frontline sales. Now with the migration likely behind us during the quarter three, we are likely to see the growth resume year on and from quarter four onwards, we are hopeful that the revenue growth should get reinstated. There has been no capital infusion, however, in the company since March of ’22 showing capital efficiency of the company. Moving to Bajaj FINSERV Asset Management Company Limited. The AMC Company continued its good run recording a AUM of upwards of INR30,000 crores as of 31st December and moving to the 26th spot amongst all the mutual fund companies in India in terms of AUM. We believe that Bajaj Finserv AMC is the fastest to cross the INR30,000 crores mark in about two and a half years of operations. The equity mix of the AUM stands at about 56% and the non-group share of AUM constitutes about 87% of the total AUM. This summarizes the performance on all our companies.
That’s from my side on the performance. Before we open for the questions, considering the paucity of time, I would request the audience to keep their questions brief so that we can cover more queries during this call. With this, I invite questions from the audience.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Nischint Chawathe with Kotak Securities. Please go back.
Nischint Chawathe
Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Just maybe to begin with, on the life side, there has been a fairly strong and impressive growth in the institutional business. If you could give some color and texture in terms of which are these partners or is it addition of new partners, is it faster growth with the existing one which has contributed to this growth? Secondly, I think on the agency side, after multiple quarters we are able to see some positive growth there. So is it fair to say that now we have bottomed out? I have some more questions, but this is on the life side.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Thanks, Nischint. You track us too closely, man. Institutional. So specific questions, so specific answers. I’d say that the growth in institutional is widespread. It is not necessarily coming from the, it is not necessarily coming from the big partners. We were possibly the first ones to experiment with a bevy of smaller partners and that strategy is paying off. It works well for them and us. And I must say that the couple of new partnerships that we’ve got, significant size, medium significant if you may say and which is largely AU Fed. And yes, I think there’s a lot more yet to be seen. So those should give them the median, much more than the median that you will see in terms of growth for various partnerships.
For agency. Yeah, while the growth has been good, I think the one thing I’d like to point out to all the analysts on this call is that we’ve seen something even better in agency. We’ve seen a doubling of their VNB in this nine month period. As you all know that we took some significant calls on agency in terms of commissions, in terms of efficiencies, in terms of tweaking on the models, in terms of cost, in terms of the air hierarchy cost. A lot many things that we’ve been doing there, in terms of how we add our branches and all of that. We are highly encouraged and we may not necessarily focus just on growth on agency. And this is just — the strategy is getting cooked as we go. As you know, agency is a very involving and very training-intensive, relationship-intensive business.
We will continue to work on the bottom line more than the top line. Hence the growth on agency is not necessarily something I shall be saying; we’ll just buckle up and start popping up from next quarter. It is really a little bit more number of quarters as we continue to work on some more parameters on agency to set it right directionally on VNB once and for all. You don’t want to do this too often in your history with an agency channel, and hence top-line growth is not going to be the key thing. The bottom line growth is what is going to be the key thing in agency. I hope I’ve answered you, Nishant.
Nischint Chawathe
That’s perfect. And just extending from here in terms of product mix, is it fair to say that agency will probably be more traditional and protection heavy and the institutions will be banker heavy? I think that’s a trend we have seen in some of your other peers.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
No, not necessarily. Not necessarily. Our agency is unique. When we moved, and I’ve said this earlier as well, when we moved from a mass to a mass-affluent base of customers in the last six, seven years, we used ULIP products significantly. The ULIPs we used to sell earlier weren’t necessarily very profitable. Now our ULIPs themselves are looking quite healthy. And that is what the agency team has done brilliantly, I would say. The pickup of term has been wholesome, systematic, and I’d say something that can only just give us more and more confidence in the future. PAR remains a healthy mix for agency as well. As far as institutional is concerned, it really is bank by bank. And every bank is uniquely positioned. And I always say that we are possibly among the top five to six companies, the only one which is truly diversified. And that remains core of our strategy.
It’s been a consistent method you possibly been hearing from us last three years. And we drive business based on our — what is good for our partner and for us. And hence is that may still yes be in line with what you see for other bancassurance businesses. Only thing please account for the fact that we don’t have one bank which would take 50% of our business and that ratio would hence not be akin to the ratio you see with other bancassurance led companies.
Nischint Chawathe
Got it. I got it. And just quickly on VNB margins, if you would want to kind of rehighlight your guidance because I think mathematically, as I see it, your VNB margin would have been closer to around 23% but for the — sorry 21% you know but for the GST hit and you know a, how do we see this going forward and probably the GST get continues or neutralizes and hence where did the margin settle?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Yeah, so I guess you are asking for more details, but I’ll just answer — give you the top line message and ask Vipin to continue with a little bit more details so that we can be transparent to everybody. Because I know the GST bit is something that everybody worries about. But I must say that this is a reset of the VNB and the NBM margin from earlier — something we weren’t very proud of. But I think now you see the trajectory is positive and this one has been more a huge bump up. I don’t think this kind of bump up is going to be there in the future.
But yes, the trajectory will be positive because as a company we — as I said moved on this journey of efficiencies, cost corrections, tailor making products, tailor making our commission rates way before anybody else. Because being a multi-distribution company, we are sensitive to these matters, and we had to get more and more efficient sooner than others. On the GST bit I’ll just pass it on to Vipin so that he can transparently answer.
Vipin Bansal
Sure. So you would recall that last quarter when we spoke, our estimation was that we’ll have about 4.5%, 450 bps impact of GST. I think that number largely holds good. What is reflected in this quarter’s P&L is a mitigation of about 1.75%. What we know today, what we have executed decisions taken, I think as we exit next quarter another — you know we would have mitigated close to about — so on aggregate basis we would have mitigated by about 325 bps, 3.25% as we exit March against 450 that we had. I think thereafter we believe that Delta 125 is a reset first April New Year.
I think that will be part of our base and we continue to work on that. I think that’s how we look at it. In terms of guidance, I think while we don’t give guidance but Tarun called out, I’ll reiterate. Last four quarters, quarter four last year and for three quarters this year, we have seen margin expansion of 4 to 6, 6.5% consistently. VNB growth close to, I mean on an average of about 50%. I think having done here the base effect does start kicking. So obviously the kind of margin expansions and VNB growth will definitely taper down from here on.
I think that’s the way to look at it. Having said that, our strategy on 2.0 is still WIP. We continue to exit that, execute that and I think GST just moved that back by about two to three quarters, I must say. Had that not been there to the point you made, yes, the numbers would have been a bit different, but I think that’s a reality. So I think it’s a pushback of two to three quarters, but I think we are confident that we will be on track to execute in line with the strategy that we had called out.
Nischint Chawathe
Got it, got it. Thank you. Just one tiny question on the general insurance business. If I look at motor OD loss ratio, it remains sort of elevated this quarter as well. Now in this backdrop, why really grow at 21%?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Avesh, You want to take it?
Avesh Karmali
Sure. Overall, if you look at the situation, the elevated loss ratio is not something that is just experienced by our organization. It is something that is experienced across the industry. Now this can be broken down into multiple parts. But one of the leading, I would say leading indicators is the pricing pressure. And of course, due to GST, there’s been a certain impact as well on the IDVs. Both of these. The pricing pressure is something that is being corrected, and we continue to do so as a daily operation. Within this backdrop we continue to grow with our long-term view, which is sustainable growth.
And hence you see that is something that we endeavor to do going forward as well.
Nischint Chawathe
But fair to say that in this environment you might just mellow down a bit given the way the loss ratios are trending. I mean for the industry, not for you. I’m saying.
Ashish Panchal
If you look at it in terms of how the loss ratio is trending, it always corrects in its own way, the point you said. The industry also reacts to it, and it corrects as it progresses. So in a general insurance business, it’s always cyclic. If you look back now, 25 years for us there, you’ll never find that it remains the same forever. It goes up for the whole industry, like I’ve always mentioned. I don’t look at motor OD loss ratios. I think for everybody, it would have moved up. And then I think correction happens. It comes on its own. These are part of a business model. This is something that we have been doing for so many years. And we’ll do that. You’ll see how it balances out as it progresses.
Nischint Chawathe
Perfect. Thank you very much. All the best.
Ashish Panchal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Satvik with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Satvik Kanabar
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Just on Bajaj General, I wanted to get a sense on how competition is actually playing out in motor and both the group and retail health segments. And second, could you please help us with your retail health loss ratios for 3Q versus 3Q last year and the last one, how has the motor TP release been this year versus last year? And how has the experience been? Thank you.
Tapan Singhel
Okay. So I’ll just give you first thing. We don’t talk of competition. We respect all our competitors, and I believe they’re all doing very good. So we don’t get into how, but we can talk of the industry as a whole. Industry as a whole, if I look at it, it is intense right now. The combined ratio for the industry actually has moved up. If you look at for the third quarter, if I just pick up the multi-line insurance companies, both public and private, it will be touching close to 128%. Now, in that combined ratio, if you look at the performance of Bajaj General, it has a combined ratio which is close to 100. So it’s a phenomenal performance in terms of delta to the industry.
And still, as Raman mentioned in the call in the beginning, we are the largest private player in terms of total volume business for this quarter. I think that is what the industry perspective is. And that is why I was so confident when I mentioned earlier that this sustainable level of this combined ratio for industry is not there. The industry would move to a correction mechanism to bring it down. But Bajaj General, in that context, continues its philosophy of a combined ratio which is much better than industry. And this time, it’s about upward of 20% better in terms of being there and also not losing market share and being there. That is the industry perspective.
Second, on the retail health perspective, we don’t give exact loss ratios, but we can tell you that it is better compared to what it was in the same period last year. So it has improved on that basis. On the TP release, I think we give the triangle, and it is in line with the way it has progressed further. Avesh, you want to add something to this?
Avesh Karmali
No. I think you’ve covered it primarily — structurally. If there’s any other detailed questions, I’m happy to take it.
Satvik Kanabar
No. No, that covers it. Thank you so much and congrats on a good set.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Uday Pai with Investec. Please go ahead.
Uday Pai
Thank you for taking my question. A couple of questions on the general insurance side. First, if I look at your motor TP loss ratios, they have been on for the first three quarters, it is comparatively very low compared to the last year, same three quarters.
So is there any impact of reserve releases, or this is the normalized loss ratio for motor TP going forward? That’s the first question.
The second question is on the underwriting profit. While our combined ratio has improved both on a YoY and a QoQ basis, but our underwriting losses have actually increased. And I believe that is because our NEP growth is slower. Is that the correct understanding, first of all? And how do we think about the absolute underwriting losses going forward? So these are the two questions from me.
Tapan Singhel
Okay. Now, if you look at TP and I think this question keeps on coming. The way to look at TP businesses, what is the release per claim settlement, I think. So let us say when you do reserving, it is based on all the current judgments which is happening, and on that, you reserve on the past record also. But when the claims get settled, and if the settlement happens much better than what the claims are reserved, there’s a release which happens. So it’s a continuous process.
The TP release is not something that would happen. But the quantum of it varies in terms of how the claim trends is happening, how the settlement is happening because it’s a long book. And that is why this happens. If let us say, if you start seeing strengthening of reserves, then there’s a worry because that means that the claim reserves which were kept were at a lower pace, and the settlement happened at a much higher pace. But as long as release is happening, it’s a good sign. That means the company had been adequately reserved in terms of the claim which had been there. That’s why you would see that on a continuous basis happening.
But let us say if there’s sudden judgment which comes in, in which it changes the way the court decides a TP claim. And we have had this [indecipherable]. We have a lot of judgments. We decide. When that decision changes, then strengthening will happen based on all the past recalls, based on what the judgment comes into picture.
This is how TP would move going forward. In terms of your NEP, it is because we have a whole account treaty. I think if you want details, Avesh can take it offline and explain to you. And because of that, the NEP looks lower. It is not about any structural issue. It’s about reinsurance treaty that we have on that basis. And for the combined ratio, as I said, we always maintain that we would be close to 100 is our ambition. And that is what we have been doing for so many years while maintaining or growing our market share. And that is how we have organically grown. And this is my point, I always mention that Bajaj General, from that, first we look at compared to some of our peers, is a complete organic grown company, built brick by brick over time. And we continue to do that structurally, what we have been doing for so many years. Avesh, you want to add something to this?
Avesh Karmali
No. I think you got it as well. The point on the underwriting profit, I could just add one point, is that the company has experienced quite a bit of market share increase on motor side, specifically on the two-wheeler side. And therefore, as you know, that business comes with a certain amount of acquisition costs. And therefore, you would see the underwriting profit at the level that it is. Overall, we still believe and we continue to believe, as you mentioned earlier, that this business is good from a long-term perspective. Hence, we do it. That’s the only thing I would like to add. Thank you.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Also, the underwriting loss for the quarter will have an impact of the labor wage code one-time hit of about INR42crores. That is also adding to the loss. So, in all, if you actually see the underwriting loss moving up, I will just summarize from what Tapan and Avesh said. One is the impact of the new labor code, INR42 crores hit coming from there. The other is also we are writing more and more of fresh two-wheeler and four-wheeler business which is the new cards. And there, if you see, our market share both for the quarter and nine months has moved up significantly in new motor sales. And like Avesh said that commissions are upfronted for three-year and five-year.
And hence, it gives a big hit on the underwriting result. But on a combined ratio basis, it evens out. So, that’s the way we look at it. The other issue also is that for the quarter, the NEP is looking a little depressed is because there was a change in the ceding percentage on the government health business, which we did last year for the same period versus this year same period. If we actually exclude the impact of that, the NEP growth actually improves for the quarter to about 5%, 6% is what I recall. So, there are a few of these elements which are leading to reflecting a higher underwriting loss, but the combined ratio is operating at a very healthy level.
Uday Pai
No. Sir, that’s helpful.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Next question comes from the line of Shobhit Sharma with HDFC Securities Limited. Please go ahead.
Shobhit Sharma
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Congrats to the Life team on a phenomenal set of numbers. So, my first question is on your product mix. This quarter, we have seen a very sudden spike on the annuity mix. So, what has led to this? Have we done some product interventions on this side? And like your peers have seen a significant growth on the retail protection side, but we have seen this growth has been kind of muted, I would say, 18%, 19% for you for this quarter. So, what has led to that moderation?
And lastly, on the channel and product mix, if you can help us understand, what is our product and channel-specific strategy to understand on that? And I will have one question on Bajaj [Phonetic] side. I will ask later.
Vipin Bansal
Thanks for that question. So, I think on the product mix, I would say, if you look at our mix for last five to six quarters, it’s largely stable. Obviously, there will be some noise depending on the quarter that you are looking at, but it’s largely stable. And that is something we also called out as part of our 2.0 strategy. And I think we are directionally heading there. So, yes, you would see annuity going up. That was the case even last quarter as well.
I think what we need to understand is we were the ones who started deferred annuities about four, five years back. This market tends to be intensely competitive. And when the pricing was not right, we actually retreated back. And then hence, our annuity would hover around 4% to 5%. Last quarter, we actually changed our product proposition on annuity, brought in newer products. And that actually increased the annuity mix to about 9% to 10% is what you are seeing now. So, I think on your question on annuity, reflected in last quarter and that continues this quarter.
In respect of retail protection, I think there is a small difference. Look, GST has helped everybody. It helps us also because retail protection does become cheaper. But in our case, as part of our strategy, we had actually been focusing on retail protection for almost last two years. So, if you go back last two years, every quarter, our retail growth on protection has been significantly high. Now, obviously, once the base effect kicks in, the growth will obviously come down. And I think that’s where it is reflected high. Does that answer your question?
Shobhit Sharma
Sure. And Vipin on channel and product-specific strategy, if you want to highlight anything on that?
Vipin Bansal
So I mentioned that, Shobh, in the first answer, that agency has got a fairly good mix now. They’ve got term in up and center now. ULIPs, which are profitable, help us with the very high HNIs, wealth customers. We are present in the mid-segment and Tier 2, Tier 3 cities a lot more than our peers in agency having 600 branches and still, our top 10 cities would not be the same top 10 cities of, let’s say, the top five companies in the life sector, largely because of our agency spread. That makes it more pertinent for having power plants. There are some states we are particularly big. So that — it’s a lot more strategy.
If you get the whiff of the direction I’m going, it’s largely driven by the market as well, which we operate and hence a customer segment in the case — in agency. And proprietary sales largely has — it remains ULIP-heavy. It is ULIP-heavy but a profitable ULIP-heavy now and selling a far higher premium paying term now, which is exceedingly helpful, is going to be transitioning more to term and riders as we go ahead. Overall, as a company, our enhanced risk cover, so term and riders put together contributes to between 44%, 47% of our customer base depending [Technical Issues]. That is a huge transition that we have made.
As far as the institutional business is concerned, I answered the first one that Nischint had asked, where we are largely tailor-made to the partnership because we want it to be mutually beneficial to both players. And the customer segment for each of these partners is extremely difficult and different, I would say. Different is the word. And hence to be able to predict difficult. But largely, as you see where we are today, you should consider this on an aggregate settled as a product mix because we’ve got everybody to the right percentage of contribution, which we wanted. And the diversification is now kind of stabilized. So what you see is what you have. And that’s how it will remain in institutional business. Did I answer that?
Uday Pai
Sure, sir. Sure, sir. Thank you. Now, coming to Bajaj, sir, so on motor OD loss ratio now. If I see, you mentioned that for the peers also, motor OD loss ratio has been rising. So is there an industry-wide phenomenon, or is there something which has changed all across the industry which has contributed to this spike? And should we expect this to be a new normal now? And is it primarily because of the pricing environment which is there on the OD side?
Tapan Singhel
I think Avesh mentioned it earlier. If you look at with the GST corrections, IDV dropped. And motor OD is calculated as a percentage to IDV. And that drop happens. Obviously, that leads to lower premium realization for the same vehicle, which would have been there earlier. Also, with inflation, the cost of repairs goes up.
So the only difference this year has been — compared to previous year has been the drop in IDV because of the GST. So the value of car comes down. And because the premium carries a percentage to the value of car, so that obviously has a lesser realization coming together. And as I mentioned that the industry would look at correcting it as it progresses.
Uday Pai
So if pricing is the only metrics because of which we’ll be able to correct this, sir or?
Tapan Singhel
See, let us look at a loss ratio. How do you — what exactly defines a loss ratio? You have premium collection, and you have claim outgo. That is loss ratio. It’s that simple as that. If the premium collection goes low, your loss ratio will go up. Second, if your claim outgo is more, your loss ratio will go up. Claim outgo, as I mentioned, which happens because of inflation, the repair cost, the spare part cost, that moves up. When that move up, then the claim ratio will go up. Or if the premium drops, when both have happened simultaneously at a point of time, then the loss ratio moves up. That’s why it moves up for the industry, which has happened.
Now, if you have to correct loss ratio, what do you do? There are only three steps. One, either increase premium. Two, negotiate better on claim outgo. And three, start making your underwriting mix stronger to get in that range, which is what companies would be doing. So it is this process which corrects the loss ratio going forward. So it’s not very complicated. It’s very similar basis. But the reason that you asked me why did the industry move up? It is because of this reason.
Shobhit Sharma
Okay, sir, got it. Thank you and all the best.
Tapan Singhel
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Divij Punjabi with Banyantree Advisors. Please go ahead.
Divij Punjabi
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I had one question on the general insurance side. What does the pricing intensity look like on the fire and the other commercial lines of business and how is it expected to be going ahead? I just wanted to get a better understanding on that.
Tapan Singhel
So India is a free market minus motor third party price which is regulated by the government. No, every other pricing is dependent on the company’s underwriting understanding and they would calculate that and then the movement of price which goes up. So in a price free market, the movement will happen. Sometimes the price gets stiffer, the loss ratio goes up, then the price again starts correcting itself. But I said this is the nature of the general insurance business, a PNC business globally, you’ll hear this word, market softens, market hardens. No, it’s cyclic in nature.
So this is, as I said earlier, also this part of our business. So right now to answer your question, specifically on the fire portfolio, the price has softened which will be there because again if you look at the results earlier, the commercial line business had a better loss ratio. And if you look at this year, there has not been a major NATCAT event. There has not been something which has led to now huge losses for the industry. So when the loss ratio comes up, the prices come down. As I explained to you on motor, as the loss ratio issue goes, the prices starts moving up, it moves in sync how the industry is moving.
So because of good loss ratios and no major catastrophe even this year, obviously the prices are right now moving down. But as they move down, the loss ratio starts moving up and then the price are correcting. So when you look at this scenario, you should also see it is a cyclical nature. It will happen. It’s a continuous process. And right now if you see past, if you look at the good loss ratios means that the pricing starts correcting. If the loss ratio goes bad, the prices are correcting the reverse side.
So right now fire and loss ratios had been good. So the price has come down to answer your questions specifically.
Divij Punjabi
Sure, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Raghavish from GM Financial. Please go ahead.
Raghvesh Sharan
Hi sir, thanks for taking my question. I had a couple of questions. First on the general insurance side. So our opex to NWP has materially cooled off as compared to all the peers who have actually made our estimates on, I mean, mine and Street estimates? So do we think of it as maybe you are going slow on the new business and focusing more on the older business because we have also seen our, at least on the motor side, the OD loss ratio go up? So how do we see this trend? The opex getting controlled with the claims ratio are pretty riveted.
Tapan Singhel
Now, if you look at the issue for the industry broadly, it has been most companies not complying with the regulations in terms of the 30% cap. But Bajaj General has been complying with it very well. It has managed its cost. I think it’s one of the lowest costs in terms of the companies put together in the private space consistently for quite some time. So growth, business, and cost are the two, three levers that are there, and we have been managing that very well. And we have been in compliance with the regulations comfortably compared to most of the players in the private space.
Avesh Karmali
Also, just to answer the question you indicated, see, on new versus existing business, we’ve been growing heavily on the new sales, both on retail health and motor. Motor, I already articulated that on two-wheeler and four-wheeler, we have indeed gained market share for the quarter and nine months both. And even on retail health, our new sales have been very, very healthy growth compared to last year. So that’s not the reason. I think the real reason is what Tapan articulated. We’ve been conscious on controlling costs. And that’s why our opex ratios look better than the others in the market.
Raghvesh Sharan
So the commissions have gone up for us as well in line with the peers?
Tapan Singhel
No. Again, if you look at it, why do we look at commission? The regulation, I would say it’s a very progressive regulation which came in, in which it said that we don’t worry on commission expenses, put together, you should be below 30. Why it is progressive? Because let’s say earlier times the model of doing business was one, agency dependent. Direct, you open branches so everybody has the same model. So fixed commission made sense. In today’s time you can decide whether you want to be high variable or you want to do businesses also with low cost, or you want to go direct.
And this fungibility allows people to experiment with the business models. So what should be seen is the total number, not standalone, that as commission moved up or come down, expenses come down. This fungibility allows business models to be created. And that’s why I always mention that it has been a very progressive regulation. And globally the number is around this number expense and commission put together. If you Google search and just put this, that for US market, how much does it come to? It’s a surprise. So this is, whether it’s, I saw in the media this kind of questions coming up.
But the question is that you have to put the two together to see where does it stand and then you have to see globally where does it stand. And if it is close to the global benchmarks, then I think the industry and the regulations have been in the right place.
Raghvesh Sharan
Okay. Okay, thanks for this. I had just a final question on the AMC piece. So now that we are at a scale of around 30,000 crore AUM, are we still looking to be focused on the mutual fund space or are we looking at alternate SIPs and all of these asset classes to grow incrementally?
Ganesh Mohan
Yeah, so for us we — in the last couple of years we’ve actually been focused on building out the mutual fund product suite and we still have a little bit more work to do over there in terms of additional products that we launched. So we’ll be certainly continuing on that path. But there’s also additional opportunities that come up, particularly with regard to SIS, EMS as well as Gift City. So these are on our plan for this coming financial year and you’ll see us active on these fronts as well.
S. Sreenivasan
If I can add to that, I’m Srini here. We have also now set up Bajaj Alts as a separate company and that company now has been staffed. We will be looking sometime towards the end of FY27 subject to, of course, regulatory approvals, to start off a set of one or two alternative funds and possibly PMS operation targeting that segment of the market which is where the minimum required for an AIF is INR1 crore and above. So this is currently under plan and it’s our hope that we — we hope that will commence by end of FY27.
That’s separate from the mutual fund. Because mutual fund will handle the retail market and the higher end of the retail market through the distribution channels will be a separate alternative.
Raghvesh Sharan
Okay, thanks.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, we have reached the end of question and answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni
Thank you for your time, everybody.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]