MD AND CEO’S STATEMENT
A strong display of grit and determination
Dear Stakeholders,
We strive to go beyond expectations to lead the industry, taking on various challenges with integrity and agility in these times of global crisis.
Looking back at FY21, we realize that the past year has been one of unprecedented situations and large-scale disruptions. Through these times, our customers remained at the heart of our operations.
Our sincere efforts to serve our customers to the best of our abilities has helped us secure their future while delivering another year of great performance in all aspects. Our strong brand recall, widespread distribution network and relentless workforce have helped us maintain our position as leaders in our industry.
We are happy to announce that we surpassed the `500 billion mark in GWP, touching over 12+ million lives in FY21. We saw a 38% rise in AUM to `2.21 trillion vis-à-vis FY20 which is one of the highest in the life insurance industry. Our operations are backed by stable profitability supported by strong back book surplus. We saw an overall prudent growth with `206.24 billion of New Business Premium (NBP). We strive to develop innovative solutions to create value for our stakeholders while contributing to high profitability.
FY21 brought about a wave of uncertainty and adapting to these changes was imperative. Through it all, we have not only managed to stay afloat but also continued to be one of the India’s leading private life insurers. Although the start of the year was slow due to onset of the pandemic, our performance picked up speed in the third and fourth quarters. Our Individual NBP grew from `112.45 billion to `124.99 billion in FY21 showing a growth of 11% and GWP grew 24% to `502.54 billion. Our renewal premiums saw a growth of 23% y-o-y to `296.30 billion and New Business Premium saw a 24% y-o-y growth to `206.24 billion.
The PAT registered a 2% Y-o-Y increase at `14.56 billion over FY20. Our IEV saw a growth of 27% from `262.91 billion in FY20 to `333.86 billion in FY21. Our VoNB margin reported a growth of 170 bps from 18.7% in FY20 to 20.4% in FY21. We showed strong 13th month persistency at 87.92% and 61st month persistency at 61.63%. At the same time, we managed to improve our operating cost efficiency further to 4.8% from 5.9%, which was reflected in our robust margin expansion. Our solvency ratio remained strong at 2.15. Through the year, we maintained stable profitability and continued to grow as an organization, cementing our position as the industry leader.
Lives covered in FY21
Rise in AUM
The growth in digitalization in the past year was faster than ever. We employed digitalization to strengthen our processes, making our service effortless and easy for our customers. We introduced a simple and intuitive on-boarding experience based on E-submission of documents, E-payment, E-verification and E-policies. This system has 41% automated underwriting and reduced issuance TAT by 34%. The application process was completed within 10 minutes and led to an adoption by 99% of the customers.
Apart from this, our mobile app, web service and real-time dashboard were revamped to make all processes online and reduce physical contact. This made our systems faster, more efficient and time saving. We also conducted our employee trainings online through interactive courses, simulations, and gamified micro modules. Our recruitment process was done online as well and we recruited more than 50,000 individual agents through the year. We have 60+ API platforms for quick on-boarding of partners & faster system integration. Our digital quotient was raised substantially by empowering distributors, customers and employees and creating a robust end-to-end scalable and integrated digital system.
We believe in creating a better life for all and this has pushed us to demonstrate our commitment to our employees and our communities by taking timely and adaptive decisions to ensure safety and well-being for all. We also undertook initiatives to raise awareness about our insurance products to drive informed decision-making on the part of our customers. We went a step further to contribute to the COVID-19 relief fund and disaster relief funds for improving healthcare facilities and education infrastructure.
As we continued with our best-in-class operations and services, our efforts were rewarded at prestigious forums, testifying to our commitment to our stakeholders and customers.
As the Indian economy revives itself, a plethora of opportunities await for us to increase our reach and awareness about our insurance products and solutions. We are ready to delve into the exciting new future and tap these opportunities to grow together as a society. Our innovative solutions and our focus on digitalisation enable our vibrant distribution network to stay true to our promise of ‘protection for life’ to our customers. Our performance is a testament to our strong business model, strong financial profile and agile responses to a dynamic environment.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank our shareholders and investors for trusting us and pushing us to do better. I would like to express my gratitude to all our stakeholders for their continued support. I feel extremely proud to be working with our efficient and dedicated workforce, whose hard work has helped us achieve excellence. My wishes for good health and wellbeing to all. Together, we shall overcome all challenges and emerge stronger.
Warm regards,
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