Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
SBI LIFE INSURANCE CO LTD (NSE: SBILIFE) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated Apr. 22, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Amit Jingran — Managing Director and CEO
Pritesh Chaube — President and Appointed Actuary
Analysts:
Avinash Singh — Analyst
Supratim Dutta — Analyst
Shobit Sharma — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Shreya Shivani — Analyst
Deepanjan Ghosh — Analyst
Neeraj Toshnival — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Nitesh Jain — Analyst
Harshal Mehta — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ra. It. Sa. Sa. Sa. It. Sam. Sa. Sam it. Sam. Sa. Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Q4FY26 earnings conference call. 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. Should you need assistance during this conference, please signal an operator by pressing the star key followed by zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Jingran, Managing Director and CEO SBI Live for his opening remarks. Thank you and over to you sir.
Amit Jingran — Managing Director and CEO
Good afternoon everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you all for the Results Update call of SBI Life Insurance for the year ended March 31, 2026. We appreciate and thank you for your valuable time and efforts in analyzing the results and participating in the earnings call. Updates on our financial results are available on our website as well as on the websites of both the stock exchanges. Along with me, Mr. Sangramjit Sarangi, President and CFO Shri Santosh Chako, President Business Strategy Sri Subendu Bal, President and Chief Risk Officer Sri Pritesh Chaube, President and appointed actuary and Ms.
Ismita Verma, Senior Vice President Finance and Investor Relations are present here. SBI Life delivered strong performance during the year demonstrating resilience in a dynamic operating environment. This was supported by a balanced approach to both product and distribution mix. The company maintained an optimal blend of protection and savings products aligned with the evolving customer needs while leveraging a well diversified market multichannel distribution strategy spanning banker, assurance agency and digital platforms.
This enabled consistent and broad based growth across segments. The year marked a significant phase for the life insurance industry driven by key regulatory developments including GST exemptions, measures supporting long term sectoral growth and the regulator’s announcement on transition to the Indian Accounting standards framework aimed at enhancing transparency and quality of financial information. The Company has adopted a phased and well governed approach to Indian transition and proposes to seek regulatory forbearance for an adoption from April 1, 2027 with comprehensive preparatory measures already initiated.
Looking ahead, the Company remains confident in the long term growth potential of the life insurance sector in India and its ability to navigate the evolving landscape with continued focus on profitable and sustainable growth. Now let me give you some key highlights for the year ended 31st March 2026. New business premium stands at rupees 425.5 billion with a growth of 20 and private market share of 21.4% Individual rated new business premium stands at rupees 219 billion with a growth of 13% and private market share of 22.9%.
Gross return premium stands at rupees 1012.9 billion with a growth of 19%. Profit after tax for the current year grew by 2% standing at rupees 24.7 billion as compared to the previous year. Value of new business stands at rupees 66.7 billion with a growth of 12%. VonB margin stands at 27.5% for the year ended March 31, 2026. Indian embedded value for the company as on March 31, 2026 stands at rupees 807.9 billion. Our asset center management stands at rupees 4.9 trillion with a growth of 9% over last year.
Solvency ratio of 1.90 as against the regulatory requirement of. We will now update you on each of the key parameters in detail. Let me start with the premium. Individual rated Premium stands at rupees 219 billion with a year on year growth of 13% while retaining our leadership position. With a 22.9% private market share and 16.5% total market share, it grew by 12.9% three year CAGR outperforming the industry average of 8.5%. Total new business premium is Rs. 425.5 billion with private market share standing at 21.4% and total market share standing at 9.3%.
Group new business premium stands at Rs. 127.7 billion with a contribution of 30% in new business premium and year on year growth of 39%. Renewal premium grew by 19% to rupees 587.3 billion which accounts for 58% of the gross written premium. To sum up, Gross return Premium stands at Rupees 1012.9 billion with a growth of 19% over corresponding previous year. Annualized premium Equivalent APE stands at Rs. 242.7 billion registering a growth of 13% out of this individual. APE stands at Rs. 2221.1 billion with a growth of 13%.
During the year a total of 22.2 lakh new policies were sold covering 22.7 million lives. The growth in some assured reflects strong consumer confidence and increasing awareness of financial protection. Individual and group new business sum assured grew by 61% and and 34% respectively year on year while rider sum issued continued to expand, now accounting for 31% of individual sum issued. The company continues to advance its product diversification strategy through focused and well sequenced initiatives.
During the year, product launches were aligned to key customer needs and across Child plants Protection Solution and the non par guaranteed segment resulting in encouraging traction. For the year ended March 2026, guaranteed nonpar savings have garnered business of rupees 42.7 billion with a contribution of 19% on individual APE basis. ULIP stands at rupees 144.2 billion contributing 65% vis a vis 70% last year. Protection business contributes 9% of APE and stands at rupees 22.4 billion. We continue to maintain a strong focus on protection business which remains a key pillar of our growth strategy.
The Protection segment recorded a year on year growth of 10% on APE basis. Individual protection APE is at rupees 10.3 billion with a growth of 24% as compared to the previous year ended March 2025. It is noteworthy that the pure protection category saw strong growth of 122% on an individual APE basis reflecting rising awareness and demand for comprehensive financial protection while the individual sum issued in the Protection Segment grew by 62%. Group Protection APE stands at rupees 12.1 billion.
Credit Life APE has grown by 14% and stands at rupees 2.9 billion. Individual APE for participating products stands at rupees 17.3 billion with an exceptional growth of 133%. YOY also par segment Sum assured has shown strong growth of 166%. Retirement plans assist customers in building a substantial corpus of funds to maintain the desired lifestyle and manage expenses in their golden years. Total annuity and pension new business underwritten by the company is rupees 86.5 billion. Moving to update on our distribution partners with strength of more than 59,000 CIFs.
The bank assurance business of SBI and RRBs contributes 60% of the total APE business. On an individual APE basis IT stands at rupees 141.2 billion reflecting growth of 11%. SBI branch productivity on individual APE stand on individual APE terms stands at rupees 6.0 million for the year registering a growth of 10% as on 31st March 2026. Agency individual APE stood at rupees 68.6 billion growing 15% with agent productivity at rupees 2.6 lakhs. The channel witnessed a shift in product mix. Non uleip share increased from 34% to 39% for FY26 supported by robust 76% growth in agency individual sum issued.
The company added more than 1,20,000 agents on a gross basis. We opened 120 new branches this year. This expansion is aligned with our vision to create infrastructure that supports the long term development of our agency channel. The other channels, direct corporate agents, other bank brokers, online and web aggregators grew by 22% and contribute 11% of total apex. Banks other than SBI Group are also growing at 22% on total APE basis. We are investing in building our online business channel for the current year.
This channel has grown by 47% on APE basis. Moving to updates on profitability, our financial performance reflects the impact of GST and the revised Labor Law. Taking these factors into account, the company’s profit after tax for the year ended 31st March 2026 stands at Rupees 24.7 billion. Excluding this impact, profit after tax for the year ended 31st March 2026 would have stood at Rupees 31.2 billion with a growth of 29%. Our solvency ratio is remains strong at 1.90 as against regulatory requirement of 1.50.
Value of new business stands at Rupees 66.7 billion reflecting 12% growth driven by both volume growth and favorable shift in product mix. Despite the impact of GSC, we have sustained a healthy margin of 27.5% for the year ended 31st March 2026. Excluding GST impact, VonB would have been Rupees 70.3 billion representing 18% growth with a VonB margin of 29% and improvement of 150 basis points. Embedded value for the company as on March 31, 2026 stands at Rupees 807.9 billion with a growth of 15% over previous year.
Excluding the one time impact, EV stands at Rupees 813.6 billion with a growth of 16%. Return on embedded value stands at 19.7% with embedded value operating profit standing at Rupees 138.6 billion. Coming to operational efficiencies, our OPEX ratio stands at 6.1% and total cost ratio stands at 10.6% for the year ended March 31, 2026 as compared to 5.3% and 9.7% respectively for the year ended March 31, 2025. This with respect to persistency of individual regular premium, 13th and 49th month persistency stand at 87.9 and 69.1% showing an improvement of 53 and 107 basis points respectively.
As mentioned in my opening remarks, asset under management stand at Rs 4.9 trillion as at 3-31-having growth at 9%. Debt claim settlement ratio stands at 99.4% for the year ended 3-31-2026. Our mis selling ratio stands at 0.02% which is 1 of the lowest in the private industry. And this is achieved through our consistent approach adopted at the company to ensure right selling to the customers. Digitalization is transforming the life insurance industry, enabling us to deliver enhanced services and a more seamless experience to our customers.
As we embrace the digital transformation, we remain committed to innovation and excellence, ensuring that we we stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape. The company continues efficient usage of technology for simplification of processes with 99.7% of the individual proposals being submitted digitally. 57% of the individual policies are processed through automated underwriting. In conclusion, by embedding resilience and continuous improvement at the core of our culture and by strategically strengthening our key channels, we are well positioned for sustained growth.
Our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional customer service not only deepens client relationships, but also enforces our reputation as a trusted and leading force in the market. Thank you all and now we are happy to take any questions that you may have.
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue you may press star and two Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Avinash Singh from MK Global. Please go ahead.
Questions and Answers:
Avinash Singh
Yeah, good evening. Congratulations on great set of numbers. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. A couple of questions. The first one if I see you know persistency has done well across the cohort barring 61st month where it has seen a drop likely it would be coming out of some ULIP during the COVID time the policy sold and possibly that is definition but on that context in that context I wanted to know is that operating agents and changes that are kind of a negative in the VNB walk are they kind of leading to some bit of a reset in or you know there are other factors to behind this marginal operating income changes.
So that’s one second again if I look back how kind of you know you have delivered over the last 10 years and you have presented in a slide. I mean in terms of your AP market share or individual APE market share or individually compounding. But if we again we were to look back those 10 years and break it into five and five, possibly the first five, of course coming from a lower base had a very very strong growth on all parameters including the kind of a margin expansion and all. Now if we look back now when the margin is more or less stable but expansion part is difficult and of course the base of growth and everything is coming into picture, the growth is also going to measure in this backdrop.
If, if I kind of I were to ask, I mean what would be your aspiration over the next five years? Again, I’m not coming up to quarterly volatility, but if I’m saying that, okay, what would be the number in terms of your retail ATV growth or kind of where the VNB or margins are compound for the next five years, what would you have to say? Okay, thanks.
Pritesh Chaube
And the first question to you are right that there is a proficiency drop on account of the early business done in the COVID period. So we know that as far as I’m concerned as we always say that we keep this exceptional item separately and look into the long term view. So as we always keep mentioning that year end we keep refining our assumption looking to reflect the current experience. So there are some changes in the modality some on the proficiency. We also seen some improvement coming on account of the long term protection improvement of the proficiency.
So that does reflect in the B1B assumption. But in this 50 basis point is not a significant point. So I will say that there is no significant change in assumption combination are all minor refinement across all the assumptions including demographic as well as expenses and other parts
Amit Jingran
Coming to growth prospects. You are aware that the company 3 year CAGR is at 12.9% and last financial year we have grown by 13.2%. Going forward also we intend to maintain the growth rate at around 14% which is which has been our CAGR for last three to five years and we will continue to maintain this kind of growth rate in coming year also.
Avinash Singh
Okay. Okay. And lastly if I can ask one more, I mean this far of course in your mix it is still a smaller portion but typically you have been more like a ULIP protection and guarantee nonpart. I mean your kind of your own intent or what is the demand factor that you kind of are bringing this strong growth in par.
Amit Jingran
The par product portfolio growth of this year has come on a lower base of the last year. Last year we had just a couple of products. This year we launched new products in the power category and we got very good customer response in this category that has resulted in a very robust growth in the power segment in the current year. We have been a company which had dominant sales of EOLIPs in the past. But as you are aware you have been attending these analyst meet for last couple of years. Our focus has been to improve the product mix in favor of non ULEP products also.
And if you look at the product launches in last couple of years, we have very good product launches in all three non par segment. Par segment and also in the protection segment. So this is our effort to improve the profitability of the company also by having a healthy product mix and we are happy that our strategy and our product launches are helping achieve this objective.
Avinash Singh
Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Supratim Dutta from Jeffries. Please go ahead.
Supratim Dutta
Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Hello, can you hear me?
Shobit Sharma
Can you please be louder?
Supratim Dutta
Yeah. Is this better?
Shobit Sharma
Yeah.
Supratim Dutta
Yeah. So thanks a lot for the opportunity. My first question is on, you know, what are you seeing with respect to customer behavior over the last two months given you know you have been typically a ULIP heavy company and last two months we have seen pretty significant volatility in the equity markets. Just wanted to understand how our customers reacting to that volatility and you know, how is that shaping ULIP demand and how in this environment Hence looking into by 27, how are you thinking about the product mix and product strategy given you know you have a growth aspiration of 14% like you highlighted.
So that’s the first question. Second, you know, again, you know, like you rightly pointed out at the start that you know you have been looking at changing the product mix for the last two years in favor of non part products. Just wanted to understand what is the share of protection now within SBI bank versus two years back and what proportion of these policies overall in the SBI channel are being sourced through Yono. If you could give us some color there, that would be very helpful. Thank you.
Amit Jingran
So talking about the customer behavior in last couple of months there you are aware the geopolitical events that are taking place and that definitely is having some impact on the market, on the performance of the equity market also. And there are effects seen on the fixed income side also. But at the same time if you look at the equity market, there are robust inflows into the mutual funds also. And overall people, wherever they are seeing value, they are investing. That is what we have seen in the company Our growth in February and March has been decent enough and we have been able to meet our guidance for the year despite these events.
So going forward also we expect to continue to have good sales growth in the coming quarter and coming year as well, depending of course upon month to month variation. And we do not pay much attention to month to month and we like to keep our focus on our yearly goals and midterm goals. So that is regarding your first question, SBI,
Unidentified Participant
Our share is 4% 4% of share pure protection credit life is over and above that and broadly that number has been flat but the mix has changed favorably from trop towards higher proportion of pure protection. So the premium numbers are not seen as a proportion. Obviously absolute numbers have grown but share has remained broadly constant. But some assured we have seen significantly higher growth number
Amit Jingran
Of policies also number of policies
Unidentified Participant
And some assured growth because protection will have significantly higher commercials.
Supratim Dutta
Understood. And you know, if I could, you know, ask one last question. So on the ULIP side, you know, are you selling the higher some assured ULIPs as well, you know, the 2030 X some assured products or is it the, you know, you’re selling only the plain vanilla 10x cover products. You know, if you could give us some clarity there.
Amit Jingran
No, as of now we do not have higher some issued ulips.
Supratim Dutta
Okay, but do you plan to launch that this year? We
Amit Jingran
Will look at the opportunity and decide in due course.
Operator
Got it. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Shreya Shivani from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Shreya Shivani
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I had two questions. First is on the bank Lanka channel sales in the last quarter, in the fourth quarter it’s actually degrown Y O Y. Is it to do with the fact that March may have been. March was a slower month for us. Was it coming from that or was there any other reason? Second question is there was a media interview by the Department of Financial Services secretary where he yet again raised the topic of banks should be open architecture etc etc. Do we have is there anything you can share with us?
Because obviously it’s a big part of our distribution mix and also what is our strategy on the distribution channel in case such a decision is finally taken by or mandated by the government?
Amit Jingran
First, Talking about the Q4 there, you would have noticed that the entire insurance sector had a sluggish kind of Q4 and that may be related to various events taking place geopolitically across the globe and our growth coming to our growth in Q4. As I already said, that instead of looking month to month and quarter to quarter growth, we like to focus on the annual numbers and we are happy that we have been able to meet more or less our annual guidance of 13%. We have maintained our three year CAGR slightly higher than that in fact.
And Bangka Channel also has been able to meet our internal budget set for the year. Regarding your other query, I would like to emphasize that SBI Life is now a 25 year old company and in this long journey we have established various very robust system and procedure and we have seen various regulatory changes coming at different point of times. You will appreciate that the company has been able to navigate all these regulatory changes with ease and we have been growing at a consistent rate. We are not aware about this particular topic as of now, but we are very sure that any regulatory changes we will be able to meet with robust response.
Shreya Shivani
Right? And sir, any just strategy on other channels I know you’ve added a lot of agent new branches but on the other line item, what are the channels we would incrementally be focused on irrespective of what happens with the banker channel.
Amit Jingran
So Agency Channel for the last two years we have been strengthening a lot and in fact the contribution of Agency Channel in our distribution mix has improved in last couple of years. In addition to the Agency channel where we are opening more number of branches, adding more agents, having better productivity, we are also focusing upon our emerging business channel. Although as of now it is a small channel, but the growth rate and the investment being made in this particular channel are giving us good result.
We will continue to invest in our Direct Channel on our website Direct Channel Sales and we are sure that this is also going to be a good formidable force in coming future.
Shreya Shivani
Got it. This is useful. Thank you and all the best.
Amit Jingran
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Priyesh Jain from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Avinash Singh
Yeah. Hi, a few questions. Firstly just extending the previous question is there has there been any communication from RBI in any form about Open architecture or in form of offering more products at the bank Assurance channel? Because the interview kind of stated that that there has been some communication or request gone to the banks to adopt open architecture. Second is if I look at your cost ratio right from FY24 your opex was at 4.9 has gone up to 6.1, total was 8.9 has gone up to 10.6 and within that main thing I think the product mix has.
Product mix shifts possibly to a certain extent. But also you’ve opened more branches and the agency channel has seen a very stronger growth. So how do you see the cost ratios moving from here on whether there is any, do you think that you’ll be capped at 10.6 or this ratio will kind of keep moving higher? And thirdly, while you talk about a 14% kind of ape growth, what would be your thoughts on margins going ahead with respect BNB margins going ahead? And those would be my three questions. Thanks.
Amit Jingran
So RBI guidelines are draft guidelines in fact are in public domain for last couple of months and they are supposed to come in force from first of all July. It does not talk of open architecture and we do not have any additional information other than what is in the public domain. As far as cost ratio is concerned. The impact on cost in this particular year, last financial year is substantially coming from the GST impact. As I already talked in my opening remarks, the other factors regarding opening more number of branches having higher it spends for customer ease and the other processes and spends on training our agency force and our CIF sector.
Those are the regions which have resulted in slightly higher cost ratios. But going forward I think these things have already panned out and other than strengthening it, there is no other major expense planned in the near future.
Avinash Singh
So just that extending that question, you know, so GST is now kind of a GST is not one time, right? GST is going to be there for sometimes it’s a permanent thing, right? Unless we kind of really do some cost savings which will bring down our costs, right? So from that perspective, how do you see the cost ratios? And my last question was on BNB margin trajectory going ahead.
Amit Jingran
That is what I said that now the GST is already in this cost of 10.8% so that has already been built in. We do not see costs going higher on account of this particular thing. Pritesh, would you like to talk about the margin?
Pritesh Chaube
So I think the margin also if you see we have reflected the 27.5 margins already accounted for all the impact of GST. And last time also we mentioned that we working to enhance the product mix and profile mix and we are very sure that profile enhancement in the profile mix will able to absorb this impact of gst. So even you see the VNB walk closely we have offset so the better product mix and some benefit coming from the interest moment has able to offset this impact of GST. So that’s the reason 27.5 reflecting into as MD sir also mentioned that we expense are reflected and we are looking to better progress from current level with the growth of 14%.
So we expect that our margin will be continued to be similar range that we maintain about 26 to 28% range that we’re seeing. And our interview is to report the margin 27% kind of things.
Amit Jingran
You will appreciate that despite the GST impact and other one time impacts, we have been able to report vonb margin at the higher end of the range of 26 to 28% that we had set at the start of the financial year. So we stick stuck to our range and we will continue to maintain that kind of margin in coming years also.
Avinash Singh
Absolutely commendables are there. But you know with all the costs, with all the one time impacts in the margins in this year and now we moving more favorably to wanting to move our product mix more favorably. Should we shift our guidance to 27 to 29? Was it 26 to 28?
Amit Jingran
So I think we said 27 to 28 and we will stick to that.
Avinash Singh
Got that? Thank you so much sir.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Madhukar Ladha from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Avinash Singh
Hi, good evening. Congratulations on good numbers in a sort of difficult operating environment. So first question, in the EV walk we see a very strong positive operating variance. If you can quantify how much is expenses persistency and, and if we have such a strong positive variance then why are we strengthening our assumptions, you know in the vnd. So I wanted to get a better sense of why are we seeing this divergence in EV and then in VND and second saw our solvency is now at about 190%. We work at a 180% solvency.
So in terms of capital, what are your thoughts, you know, any additional need and how will you sort of bridge that gap if required? Yeah, those would be my two questions, thanks.
Pritesh Chaube
First on your question on the EV work that we already mentioned that as a company we set our assumption, we always have the longer term view and we ensure that it is sustainable in longer term that always give us the very priority variance. And if you see year on year we keep reporting the priority variance by way of quality of businesses and this is not coming because we are using different conservative or prudent assumption. This is because our quality of business is reflecting much better than what we look into.
So if I say most of the quality variance coming on account of the mortality, profit and persistency and lesser on the expenses. So that’s a. If I link to the BNB as I’m saying is 0.2% is not a significant strengthening happen. But and we appreciate that the products that we are currently looking in selling in the new business and what has been reflected in our existing book, both are significantly slightly different. So it’s not exactly same. So it may not be fair to correlate the assumptions in the view with that of operating variants in AV generally reflective.
So there are maybe one or two product line which we have try to increase or promote their minus refinement. We did in the assumption for V1B and that’s also I will say it is very emerging trends and as a company we always look into and adopt this assumption. So that’s you see the VNB and EV
Amit Jingran
As far as solvency is concerned, you see the company is generating good cash accruals and strengthening its capital base through internal accruals only. We have not raised any fresh capital for strengthening our margin and this is efficient use of capital that is resulting in solvency of 1.90 against the regulatory requirement of 1.5. Going forward we are assessing the impact of the Ind, AS and RBC also that is being discussed at the regulator level, regulatory level for introduction in near future.
So we are keeping a very sharp eye and we will take appropriate calls, appropriate time.
Avinash Singh
Just one final follow up. Can you split the economic variance between your debt and equity?
Pritesh Chaube
So see our economic variance is more or less the sensitivity that we spend ev. So merely you see the equity fall and so major share coming from the equity and other part is coming from the bond. So if you total 3.66 if you say around 2 to 2.15% coming from the equity and balance it from the bond.
Avinash Singh
Understood? Understood. Got it. All the best.
Pritesh Chaube
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Sanket Koda from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Avinash Singh
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, you said that our growth most likely will be in the range of 14 odd percentage for next few years. But if I look at your bank account growth maybe for last three years it has been stuck in that range of 9 to 11 odd percentage. So just wanted to understand if the 14% growth has to be delivered then there should be heavy lifting of the growth from the other channels, either agency or other relationships. So just wanted to understand if you want to give a color of the 14 that 11% trend to continue in Bangkok and it will be largely driven by the other channels in in a way to drive the growth.
That’s my first question sir.
Amit Jingran
As already being guided for last two years we have been telling that we are strengthening Our agency channel by opening more number of branches, by having more agents, by improving agency agents productivity etc. So the clear focus is on further strengthening the agency channel and tapping all the opportunities that are available in this particular channel. We already have a robust share of agency business in the industry and we want to further strengthen it. We have also guided that in the distribution mix also we would like to have greater share of agency channel and that is already taking place if you look at the distribution mix in last couple of years.
So this 14% will be an optimum mix of the agency growth and the banker growth.
Avinash Singh
So then is it fair to say that the banker growth in that range of 10 to 11 is the realistic number going ahead for us?
Amit Jingran
I mean we do not diverge the different channels growth targets as such, but this is the kind of base that we have been growing in despite all these circumstances and all. And you can say that
Avinash Singh
The reason I’m asking this question is that if I assume the nominal GDP growth or inflation led growth with the natural increase in the ticket size that will be in the range of 8 to 10 percentage. So which means that a penetration in the banker channel largely being achieved, the growth in Bangkok will be predominantly driven by the ticket size increase. That’s the reason I was asking that more realistic growth penetration being largely achieved. It’s more ticket size led growth like 8 to 10 percentage or 10 to 11 percentage kind of a number.
Amit Jingran
Our focus is also on the protection side. So I will not say that the growth is coming only from the ticket size increase. If you look at the number of policies also the protection segment is growing where the ticket size is very small and. And there also we are getting substantial number of policies that has resulted in good protection growth also. So we do not look at from quarter to quarter and month to month number but we set our annual targets and medium term targets and go around doing business on those lines.
Unidentified Participant
The endeavor reunions to further strengthen the penetration of customer base of banking. We are not saying we have saturated the customer base of bank.
Amit Jingran
The opportunities are there and we are tapping all the available opportunities in the best possible manner.
Avinash Singh
Understood sir. And my second question is again on the margin sir. At the start of the year you guided 26 to 28 but at the start of the year you did not have a GST impact. But if I negate the GST impacted, you actually ended up reporting 29 instead of 27 and a half. So which means you you under guided probably on the margin. So. So just wanted to understand this 27 to 28. What you’re trying to guide now has has an upside either because of the product mixer or cost reverse to play out in in the next year.
Amit Jingran
So this is a matter of perception. You can say over guide under guided or you can say over delivered. This is a matter of perception only.
Avinash Singh
So the realistic margins maybe maybe better than 28 is what I wanted to check rather than being little conservative in that sense.
Pritesh Chaube
It’s not about the conservativeness. You see the only reason to deliver this margin despite the GST impact is as a company we are working on to improve the product mix. Correct. That’s really able to. That’s the reason we are able to absorb almost absorb the heat on the margin. Why we’re giving the higher ranges is as you said with the higher base we are trying to grow with the 14% and at the same time we are also trying to achieve the better product mix. So making a combination that product mix which give a better margin and have better value as well as maintain the that 14% growth is such a higher value.
It’s not a very easier task. And that’s the range what we give it gives us some flexibility to play around to maintain the good growth rate as well as maintain the margin. That’s the reason we are trying to do that. It is not about that. We are giving a prudent or conservative guidance on the part.
Amit Jingran
So both growth, profitability, we keep a very sharp eye and we adjust accordingly.
Avinash Singh
Understood sir. And lastly sir, two things. One, one is in protection. Can you give your premium mix or AP mix broker individual protection I need to say broken down into pure term and RWRP and whether whether RWRP as a product have seen a natural, natural lower demand because of the GST benefit which is available in pure term compared to rwrp. That’s. And second last time in the call you you said that you were working on regular pay deferred annuity plan. If you can give a bit of guidance or a color of how far you have come with the product whether you are okay to launch that particular product in the current year or not.
Pritesh Chaube
So we our interviewee to learn this deferred MD product in the this quarter itself. So we are aiming to go to by June we should launch a different. Otherwise we’ll go to the next part.
Avinash Singh
Understood sir. And on the protection side sir,
Pritesh Chaube
Protection side the number will give a offline to you.
Avinash Singh
Okay. Okay. Understood. Thank you sir. That’s it. From my side. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Shobit Sharma from HDFC Securities Ltd. Please go ahead.
Shobit Sharma
Yeah. Hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a great set of numbers. So my first question is on your agency channel. That channel has has consistently grown year on year for last two, three years and have provided stability to your overall growth. So what gives you the confidence? I understand you. You mentioned about the new agent editions and the new opening of the branches. So can you give us some color around the these agents who have been recruited, are these from the industry or are these new to the insurance business?
And secondly, if you can give us some qualitative comments about the branches which has been open in last two, three years, what is the business contributed by them? Or if you can give us some color around the contribution with these newly hired agents over the last two, three years.
Amit Jingran
Agents are new to the insurance industry. There is no open architecture on the agency side. So we have very robust system of hiring and training agents. And we are happy that the agent increase is also being equally met with the agent productivity. So the good growth number is coming both from the side of increased number of agents as well as increased productivity. So as I already said that we want to tap the opportunities available on the agency side. We are happy that today we have one of the strongest agency force in the market in the private sector industry and the largest player.
Also a substantial portion of the industry mobilization is coming through SBI Life. We continue to focus on this particular channel and our training methods to our agents to further tap the opportunities that are available here.
Shobit Sharma
Any number around the business contribution from the branches which you opened in the last two, three years on the contribution of agents whose vintage is less than three years,
Amit Jingran
We do not disclose those kind of numbers. And you will appreciate that of course any branch which is newly opened, it takes some time to break open, break even. But these branches are well on track. We are satisfied with the contribution that is coming through these branches.
Shobit Sharma
The second question is on your NOP count. So last three years we have not seen the NOP count growing on the individual business side we had seen very strong growth in Q3 on the NOP side. But in Q4 again it has turned negative. So when can we expect our growth to be led by NOP instead of the growth in the ticket sizes? And last question is on the GST impact. So I believe that the GST impact which we have seen during this year was actually a permanent. It was actually permanent in nature and we would have made changes in our actual assumptions.
So how should we think about the impact from Next year onwards, should we, should we see a similar kind of impact of 1.5% on an overall margins or it would be on a higher side because this year we had an impact for only the second half primarily.
Pritesh Chaube
So see GST impact has already accounted for in the margin. The 27.5 is reflected only and this is part of the business done after the 22nd, 2nd September. So maybe next another half year you’ll see some impact. But I think this will be more or less similar level for the six months overall and that we have adjusted and we are working to do the product mix profile so that offset that. So that’s the reason we’re saying with the GST impact considering into reflecting our cost and all we are able to deliver the margin that we just given the guidance of 26 to 28% range.
So there were no adverse impact going to be reflecting on account of gst. So that’s the part GST basically in absence of the input cost, we are absorbing the commission GST payable on commission of agents and distributor. So that’s already reflected in that.
Shobit Sharma
Okay. And on the NOP side
Pritesh Chaube
I think NLP we are giving listings and we are hoping that once you come with the different energy part that also will help us to increase some of the NLP because we appreciate the single PM nut most of the high ticket size. But when you come to the deferred regular pay, I think ticker side will be much lower than single premium and the more earning people will buy these things. So we expect that will help us not only to grow the annuity business but also increase the number of annuity entitled by the policy from us.
Shobit Sharma
So you mean to say NOP for growth next year would be driven by the annuity products which will be launching in this quarter or the next quarter?
Pritesh Chaube
No, we are not saying that. We are saying that will help us to increase the overall annuity business. Not especially. That only will do that. I think we have the complete suit of the annot, we have the different entity in single premium. We have the differ, we have the immediate annuity and where we have the NPS annuity and within the annuity we offer certain option. Now we are lagging only on the regular pay a different entity. So by lynching the entity we will have a complete suit of entity product available to the customer.
And we expect that complete suit will help us to grow the this line of business.
Amit Jingran
I think the confusion is he’s talking about nop. Not only so overall NOP will also increase through Other products and production products will especially help in increasing the number of nop.
Shobit Sharma
Okay, got it. Thank you. And all the best.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Deepanjan Ghosh from City. Please go ahead.
Deepanjan Ghosh
Hi, good evening sir. So my first question on the VNB mix. Now I know that you don’t give the margins across channels and every channel has a different product mix. But let’s say if you were to take FY26 for the last two years and assume a similar product mix, channel mix cost structure, what would be the V contribution across some of these channels or some qualitative color in terms of diversion between AP Mix and VNB Mix across channels? At least qualitatively. The second question is on the Credit Protect business for FY26.
The growth seems to be a little bit on, a little bit on the softer side. So going into next year I just wanted to get some color on what are the attachment rates of SBI or what are the efforts that you’re really undertaking to grow this business because it’s a relatively high margin business I would assume. And finally the third question, the third question is on the operating releases. Now if I look at the last 10 years x of Kobe, I mean in almost all the years you would have delivered a positive release.
So just in terms of the assumptions that you have built in the back book transition to ifrs and I understand you are taking a four year institution but does sort of, you know, robust risk management or prudent underwriting that would have done give you any sort of benefit relative to any other company should have probably taken a differentiated strategy on these assumptions. And one question on the data keeping question, if you can break the operating variance into mortality, persistency and expense and others.
Pritesh Chaube
So I will start with the last question. I think that I explained that most of the operating variance is coming on account of the mortality and persistency and lesser is coming on the expenses. So this is the things. Second, your question to the channel wide margin. I think we don’t disclose that and we don’t look into to the specific the product. We don’t drive the particularly the product mixed with the particular channel. We offer the product to all the channel. We pay the similar commission to the different channel and they do that and that’s the reason we don’t disclose this and even don’t look into those on the margin perspective of the we channel diving this because we look into the longer term and company level margin equation on that third question, if I remember correctly your accurate assumptions and Priority variance.
I think this that I mentioned earlier the most of the operating party variance over the years including the COVID periods reflect the two set of things. One is the quality of business, that company writing and the underwriting in one of the part. So if you write a better quality of business you will expect the experience will be much better. Secondly also look into the how you see your sustainability in the longer term. So when we set the assumption we take a longer term view and each and every time you see that whenever we see the credible experience emerging and just mandate to review our assumption and modify we give that.
So even the last year we have capitalized quite a few particularly part of the percentage side we capitalized some of the assumption and that’s the reason this year the percentage is slightly lower to that and we will continue to do that. Our view is to report the numbers and view is to not only the pricing and reporting as well keep a longer term sustainable view on that perspective. So this is third question I don’t want to comment how this will play out in IFRS 17 to us and how is the other in the market?
We normally avoid comparing our performance versus others but definitely if company is having the longer term sustainable assumptions that will have the better place and that will also reflect in IFRS regime as well.
Unidentified Participant
And on the bank credit line we think 14% is reasonable growth is faster than the bank banks loan growth. We have increased our attachment in home loans by substantial number.
Deepanjan Ghosh
Just one small follow up. If I heard correctly you mentioned that your persistency variance this year is little lower than last year. And I think last year you were around two and a half to three billion. So that basically means that for this year you almost had like 8,9 billion of positive mortality variance. I mean is that the right understanding?
Pritesh Chaube
No, I’m not saying that. What I what I try to tell you that each and every time whenever we receive the credible experience and continuous priority where I’m coming into that will revise and do that. And when you revise you will get certain gap and nothing else.
Deepanjan Ghosh
Got it? Thank you and all the best.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. In order that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the queue, you are requested to please restrict yourselves to one question only. You may rejoin the queue if you have any further questions. Our next question comes from the line of Neeraj Toshnival from ubs. Please go ahead.
Neeraj Toshnival
Yeah, hi, just a follow up on the thread. Like this quarter we see a big impact on the group credit. It’s largely coming From GPI is the right understanding or how is the great life ended Quarter on quarter and y this quarter?
Unidentified Participant
No, this quarter the GTI business has come as compared to the credit life so that is the reason the quarter four growth in the group credit group business has actually gone up.
Neeraj Toshnival
Okay and do we have numbers on how much is state life and how much is rule
Unidentified Participant
No quarterly I don’t have number. We will give you separate
Neeraj Toshnival
Okay and on the target mix I think we have been mentioned that we will be likely around 60, 40 60. I think we have already kind of achieved that the mix will largely remain stable in terms of you know the non relatable toggle around between non par and par is the fair understanding or we can further see you deploying to the entire
Unidentified Participant
No, we are driving as already in the initial remarks MD has commented that we are driving for a right product mix in the longer run perspective. So today we are at 6634 so depending upon the market, depending on the customer’s choice we are offering the products across geographies so we will continue to drive the better productivity or a balanced product mix rather going forward. So we will see how the experience will evolve. But yes we are looking into the better product mix going forward.
Neeraj Toshnival
Okay, I was coming from EP it’s already 59 and 59
Unidentified Participant
Yeah IRB
Amit Jingran
Basis it is 66 I
Unidentified Participant
Spoke about a individual AP basis so you are talking about AP
Neeraj Toshnival
66.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah
Neeraj Toshnival
And on non part savings are you taking your not taking anything IR to kind of like others have been recouping some of the GC impact. What is our strategy here? Because growth while everybody has seen a decline our decline has been little moderate compared to yours. Any commentary here or the strategy going forward?
Pritesh Chaube
So I think Nanpa if I answer correctly your question on the nonpar IRR perspective so I think the we continue looking to the industrial movement and reprice the policy. I think currently if you see there are a lot of volatility the yield curve and this yield is not sustainable this is holding up but in the meantime we have launched a new non power products that replace our existing nonpower and that reflects the current yield. So to some extent we have passed on this some benefit to the customer by launching this new product but we’ll continue monitoring and regular monitoring.
I keep saying that as a company will keep doing this adopting the dynamic approach as product is concerned and this is whenever we see this sustainable thing we will reprice and pass on to the benefit of the customer. So we try to balance between those.
Neeraj Toshnival
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitesh Jain from investech. Please go ahead.
Nitesh Jain
Thanks for the opportunity. The question is on VNB margin. So if you look at the full year VNB margin there is a 150 basis point impact of GST. So that is for half year. So does it mean that for the full year the impact would be around 300 basis point and our starting margin let’s say on a lack to like basis is 26% if the GST would have been implemented for the full year which means that we have to show VN margin expansion from 2626% in FY27. So that is the first question.
Pritesh Chaube
No, it’s not the case. So if you see the business written 4th September is much higher than the H1 secondary that mentioned in this. When you declare the result on the S1 September we have already incorporated the GST impact in in terms of the commissions on the renewal commission for the business written prior to 22nd September as well. So if I summarize, I say that all the business return after 22 September the GST impact uncommission referred both first year commission renewable and for the business written prior to 22 September the GST impact on commission and renewal.
Thirdly we have incorporated the expenses, actual expenses including GST when you report this thing. So most of the part of the impact of GST in terms of renewal commission full commission on new business and expanded only the left with the first half first year commission for the business written till 22nd. So it will not be and if I remember correctly quantified this number expecting the annual impact maybe maybe around 1.8, 1.9 kind of things. If yes, you would have been implemented from the beginning itself.
Nitesh Jain
Sure, sure. And second sir, as we move towards a non banker channel over next two to three years or the other share of non banker channel increases in our overall mix on a fair tax basis, will that have a negative impact on margin? Because we believe that banker would be a slightly higher margin with channel versus non banker. So will that have will if we don’t do anything on the product mix side, will that have a negative impact on our overall margins?
Pritesh Chaube
No, no, I don’t think and we don’t think there will be any negative impact. In fact any channel addition bring value to table by way of the fish expenses will get amortized and quality happen. I think that will add the value to the company and there would not be any negative impact on the margin.
Nitesh Jain
Sure sir. Thank you sir. That’s it for my side.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harshal Mehta from Asian Market Securities. Please go ahead.
Harshal Mehta
Thank you for the opportunity. Two quick questions from mine. So firstly as you know like we are in the earlier days windows ifrs. Please
Amit Jingran
Be a louder
Harshal Mehta
Now.
Amit Jingran
Can you be. Can you be a bit louder please? Is it better now? Yeah.
Harshal Mehta
Yeah. So. So my first question was that like we know that we are in the initial days of ifrs but if you can give some initial thoughts on you know how the KPIs will be for SVLI for the IFRS. So that was one. And secondly like our strategy has been to focus on additional products and within that we have seen par grown significantly higher than nonpar. But given the backdrop that we have recently launched a non par product in Jan, how do you expect non par as a category to move from here on?
Unidentified Participant
See as far as the IFRS is concerned we are prepared and as you know we have submitted the pro forma to the regulator for the last two financial financial years. And as already mentioned in the initial remarks we are going to have a forbearance for this fiscal and next year onwards we will be prepared to launch into the IFRS regime and we don’t see anything as of now to bring in on a KPI into the company’s performance or to disclose at any point of time during this financial year. So we will see first how it will evolve in the over the next two to three years time and then to bring in because it has got implications into the business because we cannot just bring the KPIs to the business which will be definitely look into different aspects as far as IFRS is concerned.
Second part you asked about product
Pritesh Chaube
I think how we’re going to see park is still your contribution is around 7%. Not much on this perspective. And Nanpa we have launched even different. So we do believe that the new launch in manpower and we see a lot of attraction on that that will also bring the moment in the nonpar. And again if interest rate is going to be established at current level we will reprice and be better return. So that also help us to improve the growth of the NANPA business.
Harshal Mehta
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Samanth Singh from Philip Capital. Please go ahead.
Avinash Singh
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. I hope you can hear me. Am I audible?
Shobit Sharma
Wait,
Operator
So you’re not able?
Avinash Singh
Yeah. Okay. So these are just the two data keeping questions. One was on online channel growth that was very strong until nine months. So like 45% YoY basis. So anything on the discrete Q4 number or the four year number that will be helpful. And the second is on attachment rate on the credit life portion. So what is the attachment rate on home loans? So if you can just give two data points. Thank you.
Unidentified Participant
So as far as our online business which is purely on our own website, it is almost in the similar range of 48 to 50% growth which we have done for the full financial year and that we will be continue to focus more on this channel on our own. And as far as the attachment issue of credit life, I think it is going in the similar what we have been doing it for the previous years around 50% of.
Avinash Singh
Okay, thanks. Thanks. Thanks.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gaurav from mlp. Please go ahead.
Avinash Singh
Yeah. Hi sir. Good evening and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, the question was with regards to the cost ratio. So if I look at the operating expense ratio is moved up from 5.3 to 6.1 in FY26 versus last year. And you explained that this is due to GST impact of GST embedded in the cost now. So is it only from September to March, you know the cost impact that we are looking at here. So let’s say for FY27 given that the entire year will have GST impact. So hypothetically, I mean is this 6.1 only reflective of six months of of GST or this includes the full year impact of gst.
Unidentified Participant
So this is obviously the second half of this year, half year of this fiscal impact of the gst. Next it will be full year. The other one of item I think you must have heard in the last call that the labor code so that has also this year that is impacting this increase in the operating expenses. But we are confident that it will not go under our radar rather than the way we are managing the expenses of the company. It will continue to be in that range.
Avinash Singh
Sure. So sir, if you can just quantify the deviation from 5.3 to 6.1 that we see, how much of that is attributable to GST and how much of that is attributable to new labor code. If you can just quantify that, I
Unidentified Participant
Can just tell you that if the labor code or the GST would not not been there then the the OPEX ratio would have been around 5.5 against 5.3.
Avinash Singh
Okay. Understood, sir. Got it. So safe to say that next year it may go up slightly given that this only has 6 months of GST but it won’t go materially up from here. Is that the right?
Unidentified Participant
It’s not, not necessarily because you know the OPEX is not only one of item of the GST which will impact. There are other measures which we take so that will also help to rationalize the cost and then you know we also look into the economics of the expenses where we want to do, whether we want to do or not. But yes, as far as the growth is concerned we are very focused that we will spend our money on the investments particularly on the branches IT infrastructure that will continue but it will not have effect much impact as far as the OPEX is concerned for the company.
Avinash Singh
Understood? Perfect. And Sirman, the next question is on on the channel mix as well. This year we saw other channels contribution share improving for next year also do you expect the other channel contribution share to improve? And let’s say from. From a two to three year perspective what would be the let’s say SBI contribution or any target sort of. You’re maintaining to reduce the contribution from SBI going forward.
Amit Jingran
So we are not targeting any reduction from sbi. What we are targeting is tapping additional opportunity on the agency and the emerging business channel. And in line with that the higher growth coming from these two segments will improve their contribution in the overall distribution mix. We are not targeting any reduction from sbi.
Avinash Singh
Understood? Understood. So with the effect of diversification, where would you see the overall mix? Let’s say ex banker and within banker. Maybe ex sbi. What, what would be, let’s say target share of these. These other segments that you want to keep.
Amit Jingran
So in last two years we have seen approximately 3 to 4% shift from banker to agency and agency and emerging businesses and all. And we expect a similar trend in coming years.
Avinash Singh
Understood. That’s all from my side. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will take that as the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Jingran for closing comments. Over to you sir.
Amit Jingran
Thank you everyone for your time and queries. You may get in touch with our investor relation team in case you have any follow up questions and we will be happy to respond to that. Thanks again. God bless everyone.
Operator
Thank you. On behalf of SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. It.