HDFC Life Q4 profit remains almost flat at Rs 359 cr

New Delhi: Private sector life insurer HDFC Life on Wednesday said its profit remained almost flat at Rs 358.66 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2023.

The profit was Rs 357.52 in the January-March quarter of the preceding fiscal, HDFC Life said in a regulatory filing.

The insurer earned a total income of Rs 21,426.40 crore in the quarter against Rs 16,054.94 crore in the same period a year ago.

The net premium income of the insurer increased to Rs 19,426.57 crore compared to Rs 14,289.66 crore.

The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 1.90 per equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2022-23, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing annual general meeting (AGM).

The embedded value stood at Rs 39,527 crore as on March 31, 2023, with an operating return on embedded value of 19.7 per cent for FY23.

Profit after tax for FY23 stood at Rs 1,360 crore, a robust year-on-year increase of 13 per cent.

This is despite the increased new business strain arising from higher growth in Q4, it said, adding the profit emergence continues to be aided by strong growth of 27 per cent in back book surplus.

During the year ended March 31, 2023, the company issued unsecured, subordinated, fully-paid, rated, listed, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in the nature of as per the IRDAI (Other Forms of Capital) Regulations, 2015, amounting to Rs 350 crore at a coupon rate of 8.2 per cent per annum, it said.

The said NCDs were allotted on June 23, 2022, and are redeemable at the end of 10 years from the date of allotment with a call option to the company to redeem the NCDs post the completion of 5 years from the date of allotment and annually thereafter, it noted.

The company closed the year with strong growth of 27 per cent in individual weighted received premium (WRP) with a market share of 16.5 per cent and 10.8 per cent in the private and overall sectors, respectively, clocking expansion of 40 and 70 basis points, respectively, the company said in a statement.

"We continue to grow faster than the private industry and be ranked amongst the top 3 life insurers across individual and group businesses," it added.

In terms of individual WRP, it said, the company has outpaced the private industry over multiple timeframes, including in the past 3, 5 and 7 years, thereby consistently demonstrating growth leadership.