SBI Life Shares Surge After Marginal Rise in Q4 Profit to Rs 814 Crore
SBI Life Insurance Company shares jumped 4.48% to Rs 1,681 after the company announced its Q4 FY25 results, which reflected a marginal increase in net profit to Rs 813.51 crore from Rs 810.80 crore in Q4 FY24. The market welcomed the steady profitability despite the company experiencing some income and investment issues in the quarter ended 31 March 2025.
Total income during Q4 FY25 fell steeply by 35.66% year-on-year to Rs 24,169.41 crore. But sequentially, the insurer showed robust performance with net profit and revenue increasing by 47.69% and 30.34% respectively over Q3 FY25.
Net premium income declined 4.99% YoY at Rs 23,860.71 crore in the quarter. The company also incurred a notable investment loss of Rs 1,040.83 crore in Q4 FY25 compared to the investment income of Rs 10,811.70 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.
In FY25, SBI Life posted a good full-year performance. The net profit of the company increased 27.43% on a YoY basis to Rs 2,413.30 crore, whereas total income fell 11.69% to Rs 1,17,118.67 crore. The net worth of the insurer grew by 14% to Rs 16,980 crore in FY25 from Rs 14,910 crore in FY24.
SBI Life had a strong solvency ratio of 1.96 as of 31 March 2025, which is way higher than the minimum regulatory requirement of 1.50, demonstrating its financial solidity. The assets under management (AuM) of the company grew 15% YoY to Rs 4,48,040 crore, with an excellent debt-equity ratio of 61:39. More importantly, more than 94% of its debt investments are AAA-rated and sovereign instruments.
The new business value (VoNB) increased by 7% to Rs 5,950 crore for FY25, while the VoNB margin decreased marginally to 27.8% from 28.1% in FY24. New business premium (NBP) fell by 7% YoY to Rs 35,580 crore, while gross written premium (GWP) increased by 4% to Rs 84,980 crore. The growth was led by an increase of 11% in new business regular premium and 14% in renewal premium.
The annualized premium equivalent (APE) increased by 9% YoY to Rs 21,420 crore. Persistency ratios also increased with the 13th-month and 61st-month persistency increasing by 63 basis points and 528 basis points respectively, reflecting increased customer retention and improved quality of business.
Operating metrics conveyed a marginal spike in cost pressures. The operating cost ratio remained at 9.7% during FY25 compared to 8.9% during FY24. The commission ratio spiked to 4.4% from 4%, and operating expense ratio hit 5.3% as compared to 4.9%.
SBI Life continues to deal in a broad spectrum of life insurance products such as individual and group policies, pension plans, annuity products, ULIPs, and microinsurance with a customer-centric approach and emphasis on long-term value creation.
