Commenting on the results, Mr. Anup Bagchi, MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, “We welcome the Indian Government’s recent GST reforms aimed at making life insurance affordable and accessible. We are happy to share that we have passed on the benefit of GST exemption to our customers, enabling them to enjoy savings on their premium payments. We believe these reforms will usher in growth and be value accretive for all our stakeholders including our customers, our distributors and our Company. The early trends indicate a positive response post the GST exemption on life insurance. We have observed growth in website traffic, both lead volumes and conversion rates across product segments, indicating enhanced customer traction.
Specifically, the effect of GST exemption has been more pronounced in the retail protection category. For us, protection is a focus area and notably, the retail protection segment has grown at a CAGR of 31% for the last three years (H1-FY2023 to H1- FY2026). New Business Sum Assured, which is the quantum of life cover taken by customers, grew by 19.3% year-on-year to ₹ 6.77 lakh crore in H1-FY2026 and at September 30, 2025, our total in-force sum assured stood at ₹ 42.16 lakh crore. Going forward, we expect the protection segment to grow substantially.
Our approach to offer the right product to the right customer at the right price through the right channel has enabled us to deliver a profit after tax of ₹ 601 crore in H1-FY2026, a 26% year-on-year growth. The Value of New Business (VNB) for the same period was
₹ 1,049 crore. Embedded Value (EV) stood at ₹ 50,501 crore, a growth of 9.7% year-on- year and the Value of In-force business (VIF) stood at ₹ 37,761 crore a growth of 18.1% year-on-year. The Total Premium has registered a year-on-year growth of 9.2% to ₹
21,251 crore in H1-FY2026.
We have implemented various initiatives to enhance efficiencies leading to our savings business cost-to-premium ratio reducing by 280 basis points year-on-year to 12.7% for H1-FY2026. Our 13th month persistency ratio of 85.3% in H1-FY2026, underscores our customer’s trust and satisfaction.
Our claim settlement process is designed to deliver enhanced experience, we have registered an industry leading claim settlement ratio of 99.3% for H1-FY2026, with an average turnaround time of 1.1 days for non-investigated claims.
The trust reposed in us by our customers, suite of innovative products, multi-channel distribution network and a conducive business environment position us well to deliver profitable and sustainable business growth.”
Key performance highlights:
Topline: Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE) stood at ₹ 4,286 crore with a 2-year CAGR of 10.3% and total premium grew by 9.2% year-on-year to ₹ 21,251 crore.
Sum assured: New Business Sum Assured grew by 19.3% year-on-year to ₹ 6.77 lakh crore in H1-FY2026. Retail New Business Sum Assured grew by 17.2% year-on- year to ₹ 1.72 lakh crore in H1-FY2026. The total in-force sum assured, which is the quantum of life cover taken by customers of the Company, grew by 15.9% year-on- year to ₹ 42.16 lakh crore.
Cost: The cost-to-premium ratio reduced by 280 basis point to 19.2% in H1-FY2026, while cost-to-premium for the savings business reduced by 280 basis points to 12.7%.
Profitability: Profit after tax grew by 26.0% year-on-year to ₹ 601 crore and value of new business (VNB) was ₹ 1,049 crore in H1-FY2026. VNB Margin for H1-FY2026 stood at 24.5%.
Embedded Value (EV): EV grew by 9.7% year-on-year to ₹ 50,501 crore and Value of In-force business (VIF) grew by 18.1% year-on-year to ₹ 37,761 crore as on September 30, 2025.
Claim Settlement Ratio: Claim settlement ratio stood at 99.3% with an average turnaround time of 1.1 days for non-investigated individual death claims in H1- FY2026.
Persistency: 13th month and 49th month persistency stood at 85.3% and 70.5% respectively in H1-FY2026.
Solvency Ratio: Solvency ratio of 213.2% as on September 30, 2025, against the regulatory requirement of 150%.
Assets under Management (AUM): AUM stood at ₹ 3.21 lakh crore as on September 30, 2025.
ESG: One of the highest rated Indian life insurer as per three of the leading ESG rating agencies. ESG rating of ‘AA’ ascribed by MSCI, ‘Low risk’ rating from Sustainalytics and ESG score of 78.9 according to SES.
Financial metrics:
| ` crore | H1-FY2025 | H1-FY2026 | Growth Y-o-Y |
| Profit After Tax (PAT) | 477 | 601 | 26.0% |
| Value of New Business (VNB) | 1,058 | 1,049 | (0.9%) |
| Embedded Value (EV) | 46,018 | 50,501 | 9.7% |
| Total Premium | 19,459 | 21,251 | 9.2% |
| New Business Received Premium | 8,698 | 9,456 | 8.7% |
| Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE) | 4,467 | 4,286 | (4.1%) |
| Savings including annuity | 3,690 | 3,458 | (6.3%) |
| Protection | 776 | 828 | 6.7% |
| Product mix (% of APE): Linked/non- linked/annuity/protection/group funds | 52/18/10/17/3 | 48/22/5/19/6 | – |
| Channel mix (% of APE): Agency/direct/ banca/partnership distribution/group | 30/16/29/11/14 | 25/14/30/13/18 | – |
| New Business Sum Assured (lakh crore) | 5.67 | 6.77 | 19.3% |
| Total in-force sum assured (lakh crore) | 36.37 | 42.16 | 15.9% |
| Cost/Total premium1 | 22.0% | 19.2% | (280 bps) |
| Cost/Total premium (Savings LOB)1 | 15.5% | 12.7% | (280 bps) |
| Solvency | 188.6% | 213.2% | – |
| Assets under Management (AUM) | 3.20 | 3.21 | 0.3% |
Components may not add up to the totals due to rounding off
1: Total cost including commission excluding interest on sub-debt/ Total premium
Definitions, abbreviations and explanatory notes
• Annual Premium Equivalent (APE): APE is a measure of new business written by a life insurance company. It is computed as the sum of annualised first year premiums on regular premium policies, and ten percent of single premiums, written by the Company during any period from new retail and group customers.
• Retail Weighted Received Premium (RWRP): RWRP is a new business measure very similar to APE for the retail (also referred to as individual) business with the only difference being that the regular premiums considered here are first year premiums actually received by the life insurer and not annualised. It is the sum of all retail first year premiums and ten percent of retail single premiums received in a period.
• Persistency: It is the most common parameter for quality of business representing the percentage of retail policies (where premiums are expected) that continue paying premiums. Regular and Limited pay persistency in accordance with IRDAI Master circular on Submission of Returns 2024 dated June 14, 2024.
• Cost Ratio: Cost ratio is a measure of the cost efficiency of a Company. It is calculated as a ratio of expenses incurred by the Company on new business as well as renewal premiums excluding interest on sub-debt to total premium.
• Embedded Value (EV): EV represents the present value of shareholders’ interests in the earnings distributable from the assets allocated to the business after sufficient allowance for the aggregate risks in the business.
• Value of New Business (VNB) and VNB margin: VNB is used to measure profitability of the new business written in a period. It is present value of all future profits to shareholders measured at the time of writing of the new business contract. Future profits are computed on the basis of long-term assumptions which are reviewed annually. VNB is also referred to as NBP (new business profit). VNB margin is computed as VNB for the period/APE for the period. It is similar to profit margin for any other business.
