India's SBI Life profit dips as operating expenses rise (updated)

Sbi Life Insurance

22/04/2026 11:28

SBI Life to strengthen agency and digital channels

Quarterly new business growth slows to 5.5%, below estimates

Profit dips slightly as operating expenses rise

Rewrites throughout with comments from post-earnings call

By Nishit Navin

April 22 (Reuters) - India's SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS said on Wednesday it is well-positioned to handle any potential tightening of regulations on selling policies through banks as it continues to boost sales online and through agents.

India is stepping up efforts to curb misselling of financial products. In February, the central bank proposed draft rules to address such sales through lenders. The secretary at the finance ministry's department of financial services has urged banks to avoid exclusive insurer tie-ups, ET Now reported on Tuesday.

SBI Life, which gets more than 60% of business from the banks, with a substantial portion coming from parent State Bank of India SBI.NS, reported a slowdown in new business growth and a marginal decline in profit on Wednesday.

Analysts had expected business growth to moderate in the March quarter as the Middle East war spiked market volatility, weighing on demand for market-linked insurance products.

The insurer's net profit declined to 8.05 billion rupees ($85.9 million) for the three months ended March, down from 8.14 billion rupees a year earlier, dragged by a one-third rise in operating expenses.

Net premium income rose 16%, driven by growth in renewals and one-time premiums.

SBI Life's annualised premium equivalent sales — a key measure of new business — grew 5.5%, slowing from the 25% growth in the preceding quarter. Four brokerages had expected the firm to clock a growth of 8%.

The value of new business, or expected profit from new policies, dropped about 2% to 16.3 billion rupees while the margin on such business stood at 27.5% as of March-end, among the highest in the sector.

Last week, peer HDFC Life HDFL.NS reported slower new business growth, while ICICI Prudential Life's ICIR.NS profit rose.

($1 = 93.7725 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

 ((Nishit.Navin@thomsonreuters.com;))