 "Shriram Life Insurance net rises over 50-fold to Rs 156 cr in FY23")
Shriram Life Insurance has posted a net profit of Rs 156 crore in FY23, on the back of strong growth in individual non-single premiums. During the financial year 2021-22, its net profit was a mere Rs 3 crore and was Rs 106 crore in 2020-21.
For the year-ended March 2023, Shriram Life posted a retail APE (annual premium equivalent) growth of 24 per cent YoY, underscoring faster growth than the total industry for Individual New Business APE. For the period April 2022 to February 2023, while private industry grew 19 per cent on Retail APE, Shriram Life showed stable growth at 22 per cent. Even as private industry experienced an additional boom in March owing to the Budget announcement on taxation of higher premiums, Shriram Life continued to report steady growth at 31 per cent (for March 2023), the company said in a statement.
The company, promoted by Shriram Group and South Africa’s Sanlam Group, progressed in its purpose to provide life protection cover among communities that need it the most. The company sold 2,90,156 policies in FY23. Including group business SLIC provided life cover to over 5.3 million new lives during the year. Shriram Life sources 45 per cent of its retail business from the rural sector.
The company saw a 9 per cent increase in renewal premium to Rs 1,394 crore alongside a 17 per cent rise in AUM at Rs 9,012 crore. In FY22, the company’s AUM stood at Rs 7,683 crore while Profit After Tax (PAT) saw a dent at Rs 3 crore, due to the impact of the pandemic. Claims settlement for individual policies improved more than 100 basis points to 97.4 per cent, with over 91 per cent of its non-investigated claims (claims arising after three years of policy inception) settled through the Rapid Claims Settlement process that includes claim settlement within 12 hours.
Approximately 48 per cent of Shriram Life’s retail claims were from the rural segment. “Our growth has advanced thanks to the adoption of technology and innovation, enabling more rural policy holders to complete their paperless statement. We’ve strengthened our digital capabilities with a focused approach to solve customer needs and, at the same time, maintain engagement with our customers,” said Casparus J Kromhout, Managing Director and CEO, Shriram Life.
“We saw the regulator introduce critical reforms that had a positive impact on the industry. The industry is at a stage with high potential to grow due to diverse market demographics, increasing awareness and technological advancements. Shriram Life looks forward to continuing the growth momentum in the coming years and continue its purpose to provide life insurance protection to more families in the rural segment,” he added.
The policy-mobilizing agents’ app Astra, chatbot ShriA, and the latest addition — Shriram Smart Suraksha Card — along with e-KYC face authentication have enabled Shriram Life’s customers to seamlessly experience premium renewal, access policy bond or even buy fresh policies, it said. Shriram Life’s Smart Suraksha Card is set to drive paperless insurance, helping users to renew premiums by way of QR code and retrieve policy bond data which users can carry around with them.