ICICI Prudential Life’s New-Business Profit Jumps 25% in Q1 2027
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which sells savings, protection, and annuity policies to individuals and groups, said on Tuesday that value of new business (VNB)—the profit from policies sold in the quarter—rose 24.9% year‑on‑year to ₹ 571 crore in the April–June period, with the VNB margin expanding to 26.7% from 24.5% a year ago. Annualised premium equivalent (APE), a sales metric that combines regular and single premiums, grew 14.6% to ₹ 2,136 crore, rebounding sharply from a subdued FY2026 when full‑year APE inched up just 2.2%. The acceleration was driven by a 45.7% jump in protection sales, while the board separately approved a proposal to rename the company ‘ICICI Life Insurance Limited’ after one of its original promoters, Prudential, sought reclassification as an investor.
Protection takes the lead
The share of protection in total APE surged to 27.9% in Q1 FY2027, up from 21.9% a year earlier [announcement]. Retail protection premiums soared 60.4% to ₹ 223 crore, largely because term plans became 18% cheaper after the GST reform that took effect in September 2025 [4, announcement slide 49]. Retail sum assured—the total cover from new policies—rose 45.9% [announcement].
Savings‑linked APE grew a modest 6.4%, while non‑linked savings contracted 9.5% as customers pivoted toward protection [announcement]. The channel mix shifted too: group and partnership‑distribution businesses gained share, while agency, direct, and bancassurance channels all saw their shares shrink [announcement].
Margin at its highest since at least early FY2025
The VNB margin of 26.7% compares with 24.5% in the same quarter last year, 24.7% for full FY2026, and 22.8% for FY2025 [announcement, 3]. The expansion comes from the richer protection mix, as well as longer policy tenors and higher sum‑assured multiples within savings products . A favourable yield curve also helped cushion the loss of input tax credits that followed the GST changes, management said during the full‑year call .
Profit after tax rose 27.8% to ₹ 386 crore, aided by investment income [announcement]. The company’s own sensitivity analysis shows that a one‑percentage‑point rise in interest rates would trim the VNB margin by 1.4 percentage points, while a 10% worsening in mortality would knock off 4.6 percentage points [announcement].
Cost‑efficiency gains in savings
The cost‑to‑premium ratio for the savings line of business improved to 13.6% from 14.1% a year ago, though it was higher than the 12.1% recorded for all of FY2026 [announcement, 3]. The company has been reallocating staff, shifting to digital processes, and using AI to cut waste—moves management says will continue even after the big jumps in cost ratios are over [3, 5]. In the quarter, 54% of savings policies were issued on the same day, and 97% of service interactions happened through digital modes [announcement].
Rebranding follows promoter reclassification
The board’s proposal to rename the company to ‘ICICI Life Insurance Limited’ follows the decision by Prudential Corporation Holdings Ltd (PCHL) to be reclassified from a promoter to an investor [1, 8]. ICICI Bank becomes the sole promoter. The company stated that core operations, strategies, and governance remain unchanged, and the change is subject to regulatory approval [announcement, 1].
Key metrics at a glance
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