Mumbai:
Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic,HDFC Life's net profit grew by 6 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) to Rs 451 crore in June quarter.
The company's total premium has plunged by 10 per cent y-o-y to Rs 5863 crore in Q12020-21.While its new business premium has dipped by 33 per cent y–o-y to Rs 2623 crore, its renewal premium has gone up by 24 per cent y-o-y to Rs3239 crore in the June quarter.
“We continue to exhibit resilient performance even in the current scenario.Our market share in terms of individual weighted received premium(WRP) has increased by 100 basis points from 17.5 per cent to 18.5 per cent. Our calibrated approach of maintaining a balanced product mix has again enabled us to manoeuvre through a turbulent environment and adapt faster than the overall market. We remain well positioned to provide a sustainable value proposition to our customers, partners and shareholders in these challenging times,” said Vibha Padilkar, MD& CEO,HDFC Life
“We continue to maintain a balanced product mix with share of participating savings,non participating savings, ULIPs,protection and annuity accounted for 30 per cent, 28 per cent 27 per cent,11 per cent and 5 per cent of idividual APE respectively. Our focus on the protection segment resulted in 50 per cent growth in the individual protection segment,'' added Padilkar.
“ Our digital footprint allows us to service our customers remotely. More than 75 per cent of our branches are operational across the country. As the economy is coming to terms with the effects of the pandemic, we are increasingly witnessing encouraging on‐ground trends. Business has started to pick up on a month‐on‐month basis and we are seeing higher traction, especially in the individual protection business. As the situation begins to normalise, we expect life insurance to emerge as an important avenue for both protection as well as long term savings, and consequently help attract a higher quantum of inflows from Indian households.Given our wide bouquet of product offerings across segments and continued focus on a balanced product mix, we believe that we are well positioned to serve the anticipated demand uptick,'' elaborated Padilkar.
The company had made a provision of around Rs.41 cr as at March 31, 2020, for potential adverse mortality experience due to COVID-19 pandemoc. The provision held is in excess of the IRDAI prescribed norms. While this COVID reserve was not utilised in the previous quarter, we believe that it is prudent for us to continue to carry it forward.
As at the end of the June quarter, the life insurer's asset under management(AUM) was Rs.1.4 lakh crore, with a Debt:Equity mix at –68:32) and about 97 per cent of debt investments were in G-Secs and AAA bonds.
“We have adopted a multi dimensional approach to manage the smooth functioning of operations in the current scenario. Accelerated digital selling and servicing, effective employee engagement, cost control measures and responsive strategy are the key elements of our approach. We have seen an increase in the adoption of assets such as our chat based identification tool and pre conversion verification chat, which allows customers to self authenticate their details,'' said Padilkar. . .
Almost 50 per cent of the medicals are being done through tele‐medicals. On the servicing front, query resolution through the life insurer's digital tools such as bots across Whatsapp, webchat and email have seen an increase of 90 per cent, 36 per cent and 110 per cent respectively. Almost 89 per cent of renewal collections are done online now.
The life insurer's solvency position remains healthy at 190 per cent compared to 184 per cent as on March 31 2020 and the regulatory requirement of 150 per ent.