Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Jhingran, Managing Director and CEO. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you all to the Result Update Call of SBI Life Insurance for Quarter Ended June 30th, 2024. We appreciate and thank you wholeheartedly for your time. Update on our financial results can be obtained on our website, as well as on the websites of both the stock exchanges. Along with me, present in this room are Mr. Sangramjit Sarangi, President and CFO; Mr. Abhijit Gulanikar, President, Business Strategy; Mr. Subhendu Bal, Chief Actuary and Chief Risk Officer; Mr. Prithesh Chaubey, Appointed Actuary; and Miss Smita Verma, Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. I'm pleased to share that we have seen progress in several key areas as compared to previous quarters of corresponding period, demonstrating the strength and dedication of our teamwork.
We are building a strong base for the year ahead by registering growth in bancassurance and agency productivity, onboarding new agents, and digital initiatives. This is a testament to the hard work and strategic initiatives we have implemented, ensuring that we not only meet but also exceed our goals. Moreover, our efforts in new business development have been fruitful. We have seen a notable increase in our new business premium, especially in the linked and saving products. With higher insurance awareness, there is a positive trend in insurance industry and higher focus on financial planning and long-term savings. During the period, 99% of our business is sourced digitally. We will continue our digital initiatives by embracing agility and innovation in meeting the evolving needs of customers in the digital age and fostering brand differentiation.
It has been a good start to the year, and during the year ahead, we will continue to accelerate on this momentum, striving for excellence in everything we do. We remain confident of navigating the winds of change, ensuring a future where insurance is not just a product, but a pillar of financial security and empowerment for all. Now, let me give you some key highlights for this quarter ended 30th June 2024. Our new business premium registered a growth of 13% over previous period and stands at INR 70.3 billion and maintained private market leadership with share of 21.8%. Individual new business premium stands at INR 47.5 billion, with a growth of 17% and private market share of 25.9%.
Gross Written Premium stands at INR 155.7 billion, with a growth of 15%. Protection New Business Premium stands at INR 7.2 billion. Profit after tax stands at INR 5.2 billion, with a strong growth of 36% over corresponding period of last year. Value of New Business stands at INR 9.7 billion, registering a growth of 12% over last period. VNB margin stands at 26.8% for period ended June 30th, 2024. Our assets under management has crossed a milestone of INR 4 trillion mark, with a growth of 26% over corresponding period last year. Robust solvency ratio of 2.01 as against the regulatory requirement of 1.50. We will now update you on each of the key parameters in detail. Let me start with the premium.
The growth of Indian insurance industry for the current quarter has rebounded and has demonstrated a robust performance during the quarter. It grew by 22.9% over previous period. We have successfully maintained our market position among private players in individual and total new business premium, and have delivered an enduring performance for the quarter. In the year ahead, our endeavor is to continue to maintain and grow our market share as compared to the previous year. Individual new business premium has grown to INR 47.5 billion, with a growth of 17% over last period. Single premium contribution is 36% of individual new business premium, which is mainly attributed to growth in our individual annuity product. If we exclude the annuity business, single premium contribution is at 18% of individual business.
The company's private market share stands at 25.9%, and industry market share stands at 15.7%. On individual rated new business premium, we stand at INR 32.2 billion, with a growth of 21% over last period, and maintaining our leadership position with private market share of 22.4% and total market share of 15%. Also, group new business premium stands at INR 22.9 billion, with contribution of 32% in new business premium and a growth of 6% over last period. Having said that, we have collected total new business premium of INR 70.3 billion. The company's private market share stands at 21.8%, and total market share stands at 7.8%.
Renewal premium grew by 16% to INR 85.4 billion, which accounts for 55% of the gross written premium. To sum up, gross written premium stands at INR 155.7 billion, with a growth of 15% over corresponding quarter of last year. In terms of APE, premium stands at INR 36.4 billion, registering a growth of 20%. Out of this, individual APE stands at INR 33.1 billion, with growth of 22%. During the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, total 4.25 lakh new policies were issued. We remain committed towards the goal of increasing the penetration and achieve holistic growth. Number of lives covered during the quarter ended June 30th, 2024 is INR 4 million.
The company is aligned with the regulator's vision of insurance for all, and will continue to focus on various reforms enabling deeper penetration of the life insurance industry. Individual new business sum assured registered a growth of 16% over corresponding quarter of previous year. Let me give you some details about the product mix. So as on June 24th, our guaranteed Non-Par savings products are contributing 21% of individual business, individual APE basis. Individual unit new business premium is at INR 27.5 billion, which now constitutes 58% of individual new business premium. Growth in units is attributed to positive movement in equity market and change in customer preferences. Individual protection new business premium is at INR 1.5 billion. Group protection stands at INR 5.7 billion. Credit Life new business premium has grown by 6% and stands at INR 4.7 billion.
On protection business contribution, 8% of APE and stands at INR 3 billion. Retirement plans assist customers in building a substantial corpus of fund to maintain the desired lifestyle and manage expenses in their golden years. Our comprehensive solutions ensure a secure, comfortable, and fulfilling retired life for our valued customers. Total annuity and pension new business underwritten by the company is INR 15.4 billion. Annuity businesses at INR 11.5 billion and contributes 16% of new business premium. Individual annuity business contributes 90% of total annuity business. Moving to updates on the distribution partners. With a strength of more than 59,000 CIFs, SBI and RRB's Bancassurance business contributes a share of 63%, and on individual APE basis, it stands at INR 20.7 billion with a growth of 12%.
SBI branch productivity on individual APE terms stands at INR 3.5 million for the current quarter and registered a growth of 14%. With enhanced focus on agency channels and a strategic launch of Agency 2.0, we have made impressive strides in agent activation, agency channel productivity, and onboarding of new agents, and better collaboration. Our agent productivity for the quarter stands at INR 1.7 lakh on individual APE terms, registering a growth of 27% over corresponding quarter of previous year. Agency registered new business premium growth of 28% over corresponding quarter of previous year and contributes 21%. Agency channel individual APE showed a growth of 48% over last period, and it stands at INR 10.7 billion.
As on June 30th, 2024, the total number of agents stands at 257,266, a growth of 15% over previous year. During the quarter ended, the company added a net of 11,188 agents. The share of agency channel in individual rated premium has increased from 27% in previous period to 32% in current period. During the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, other channels, that is, the direct channel, corporate agents, brokers, online and web aggregators grew by 61% in terms of new business premium and 38% in individual new business. Linked business through other channels registered growth of 89% on APE basis. The share of other channels in new business premium have increased to 28% in current period, from 19% in corresponding quarter of previous year.
We are focused to strike optimum balance among various distribution channels, and we expect to grow by leveraging these multiple drivers and further strengthening our distribution network. Now to some updates on profitability. The company's profit after tax for the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, stands at INR 5.2 billion, with a robust growth of 36% as compared to previous quarter of previous year. Our solvency remained strong at 201%, as against regulatory requirements of 150%. Value of New Business stands at INR 9.7 billion, with growth of 12% as against INR 8.7 billion in last period. VNB margin stands at 26.8% for the period ended June 2024.
The shift in VNB is mainly on account of increase in share of new life business as compared to previous period, and for a specific period in Non-Par savings, the impact of yield movement was absorbed by the company instead of being passed on to the customers. Talking of operational efficiency, OpEx ratio stands at 6.1% for the quarter ended June 30th, 2024, as compared to 6.8% for corresponding quarter of previous year. Our total cost ratio stands at 10.5% for the period ended June 30th, as compared to 10.8% for corresponding quarter of last year.
With respect to persistency of individual regular premium, 13-month persistency stands at 86.5%, with an improvement of 150 basis points, and 61st-month persistency stands at 59.0%, with an improvement of 229 basis points. As mentioned in my opening remarks, assets under management stand at INR 4.15 trillion as at June 30th, 2024, having a growth rate of 26% as compared to June 30th, 2023. Death claim settlement ratio stands at 98.7%. The company has registered an improvement of 107 basis points over last year. At SBI Life, an unwavering commitment to our customer-centric approach remains at the heart of everything we do. Our mis-selling ratio stands at just 0.04%, which is lowest in the industry.
To further strengthen it and keeping customer at the center stage in order to better address the customer grievances, we have created the position of internal ombudsman and appointed an industry veteran to set a new benchmark in customer satisfaction. This is first in the entire insurance industry. We are committed to delivering need-based solutions that address the ever-evolving customer needs based on customer profile, life stage, and goal prioritization. The company continues efficient usage of technology for simplification of processes, with 99% of the individual proposals being submitted digitally. 42% of individual proposals are processed through automated underwriting. We have aligned our business strategies with IRDAI vision and other regulatory initiatives, emphasizing the importance of consumer empowerment in driving growth of the industry.
IRDAI has issued a master circular on life insurance products that encompasses a series of forward-thinking reforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency, transparency, and overall functioning of the insurance sector. These reforms are designed to foster innovation, improve customer satisfaction, and ensure the stability and growth of the industry. Measures like increase in special surrender value, increase in free look cancellation period, loan against policy for all non-linked saving products, offering surrender value and robust processes to address customer grievances will further increase insurance penetration. We at SBI Life fully support these initiatives and are committed to aligning our operations with the new regulatory framework. We believe that these changes will bring about a positive transformation in the insurance industry, benefiting all stakeholders involved. To conclude, by fostering a culture of resilience and continuous improvement, and with our expanding multi-distribution network-
... committed team members and best in class customer service, we are confident of our ability to navigate the future and maintain our position as a trusted leader and preferred market player. We will continue to focus on long-term sustainable and profitable growth. Thank you all. And now we are happy to take any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Avinash Singh from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good day. Good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions. The first one is more around what will be your strategy around protection, encompassing both the retail protection and Credit Life? Because, I mean, on the Credit Life side, you have a large bank like SBI as a partner, and also on the retail side you have a big reach. But I mean, since last almost more than a year, protection somehow seems to be losing momentum, at least on a relative basis to savings. So what is going to be the strategy to sort of improve our protection share in the product mix, particularly the retail protection and Credit Life? GTI. I am separating for the moment. So that's first question.
The second question, if you can sort of outline, you know, your strategy or plans around product design or, you know, the commission tweaking post, September thirtieth, once this new product has to be sort of, filed, where you have this enhanced special surrender value. What are your thoughts on sort of, impact in terms of how we are going to deal with the, you know, balancing the margin, payout to the persistent customers, at the same time, the commission payouts? Thank you.
So, taking your protection question first, there was a slight blip during the quarter in the protection sales, as we saw in the results. That was basically, I think, was being driven by more demand of unit products in the market, depending on the returns that are being generated through units and a natural attraction of the customer segment for these higher returns. But having said that, being in the insurance industry, protection remains very important and this is on top of our mind also. To improve the protection business, we have gone into a huddle with our main banker partner, SBI, and depending on the data analytics of SBI on its database, we are going to offer a product very soon on the digital platform of the State Bank of India, that is YONO.
This will be a simpler product with a three-click kind of issuance based on the data analytics and pre-approved kind of sum assured, with very competitive rates. Being on the digital platform, the journey will be very easy for the customer. The rates will be very competitive, and we expect a very good response through this particular product. In addition to that, we are also designing a product for the ultra HNI kind of segment, where higher sum assured is needed. This product should also be launched sometime during the month of August. We expect to garner a good business out of this higher sum assured product also.
Of course, underwriting offering higher non-medical limits and simplified medical procedures also are being introduced to improve the individual protection business. The group protection, of course, has shown some growth, and we expect that with the property market in boom, the group protection business, especially with the banker partner, will definitely show further growth during the years. Coming to your second question about the strategy and plans. We have maintained that the new customer-centric approach of the IRDAI, the better surrender value and all to the customers. SBI Life being the lowest cost operator, and also because of the kind of product mix that we have at SBI Life, we will be the least affected company.
As of now, we do not, we are not planning any commission structure change for our corporate agents or for our individual agents. The rate structure will also continue to be the same.
Okay, so, just on first part, on Credit Life. Do you have any plans to sort of, meaningfully improve traction beyond, home loans? Because, I mean, now it's, I mean, ICICI, of course, are pretty big in auto loans, even in personal loan they have recently been. I mean, are you looking to sort of, increase penetration in, of Credit Life in auto loan customer or personal customer, or is, the home loan going to be the, the core area?
Home loan continues to be the largest portfolio for the bank also, and we see good value in increasing penetration there. In addition to that, with these new protection products also on individual basis as well as on the group term basis, we will be targeting the education loan customers. So, for these young customers, the protection will be priority, and we will try to cover them through group or through individual products.
Okay, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nischint Chawathe from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. Anuj, I'm not sure if I really understood the reason for the, you know, year-on-year decline in margins. You know, as I understand, your margins in units, you know, at least in the past, you've had kind of, highlighted are higher than, margins in the par book. So what has driven the, compression in margins?
Nischint, the main thing is our protection has not grown to the extent we wanted. That is one of the key reasons why our margin has gone down. And in opening remarks, MD also stated for that for a short while, the drop in interest rate was not passed on to the customer. That is also... So there is some, with the, of course, Non-Par remains high margin product, but within Non-Par our margins have gone down comparatively, slightly compared to last year, because we did not pass on the drop in interest rate to customer. So it's a combination of product mix, slightly higher unit sale, and these two factors which have record decrease in margin.
Slightly higher unit sales should have actually lifted your margins, and you are saying that these two components probably more than offset that, and which is the reason why your margins are down.
Correct. Correct.
If I look at purely the savings vertical versus protection vertical margins, is the savings vertical margin kind of almost stable or gone up or how is it going?
It's stable.
They are a little stable.
Okay. So then, then practically it's only the protection stream in which you probably have around maybe 60%-70% margin on individual protection, which is, I mean, practically driving all the difference in numbers this quarter.
Yeah. So, I mean, directionally correct, we will not comment on the amount, I mean, the numbers.
Sure. Okay, and just, one more thing is, you know, on the regulatory side, there have been, you know, quite a few changes. Anything else that we are now really emphasizing, you know, at this stage?
So, we have always stood by the changes that the regulator brings in, because we firmly believe that whatever is being done by the regulator is to ultimately benefit all the stakeholders in the industry, be it customer, be it the insurance companies or the distributors. So, whatever comes in, we are ready to implement that. And, in fact, we have gone ahead, if you noticed, during my comments, we said that some of the customer-centric approach, like the introduction of internal ombudsman in the company, that is for the first time in insurance industry that we are doing that. So, all the customer-favoring decisions of regulator, we fully stand by that.
Sure. And, because of the surrender penalty guidelines change, what could be the impact on margins? Because I think you mentioned somewhere that you're going to absorb it and not really share it with the distributors.
Not much, Nischint. As you know, our product mix is not more exposed to other units, less on the Non-Par. Secondly, we always, in terms of setting our assumptions, our surrender value is higher than the regulatory required, so we don't penalize the customers. Our approach in the pricing the product need to ensure consistency and continuing in terms of what return we're offering to the current policyholder, and we're not banking our return based on the surrender penalty coming from that. So to that extent, there is very less impact. Only impact will be coming on the year one, and year one, our assumptions, our experience is also very low. So we don't see much impact will come on the first quarter.
Sure. And just finally, any guidance that you would want to give for the, you know, growth for this financial year?
We stand by the guidance that we gave during the end of the last financial year results. Our top line growth will be in high teens-20%. Regarding the margin also, we will be in the same range of ±28% kind of...
Perfect. Thank you very much, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prayesh Jain, from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Hi, a couple of questions. Firstly, on commission costs that have gone up, what could be the reason for that? Secondly, there is a slowdown in annuity as well. Could you highlight the reasons for that? What is the outlook there?
For the commission part, as you know, we have provided as required under the Expenses of Management guideline, which was not there in the last year's first quarter. That is the reason there is a little spike shown in the current quarter. As far as the annuity is concerned, we have been very focused on the individual annuity. Group annuity, this is coming based on the transactions which you do over a period of time, so which are in pipeline. We expect that annuity will also pick up overall for the financial year in the next few quarters.
Okay. Okay. And this, lastly, in the surrender charge, you are saying that if your product mix remains the same, and the new products are launched from October, your margins would not be impacted. Is that the fair assumption to go with?
We are saying that there will be very minimal impact. We can't say there will be no impact. But looking into our product mix and the way we surrender value that we're currently offering, there will be much minimal impact will come on our margin, on overall margin for the company.
Then how do we kind of come to 20%, ±28% being the margin guidance that you are giving? Then how can we invest to second half margins are likely to be lower, it would be impacted by this. Then how do we arrive at the 20%?
We are saying that product mix will improve, and that will compensate for the loss in margin that you are seeing in the first quarter.
Got that. Got that. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shreya Shivani from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. First is on the banca channel, SBI channel. I know in last quarter also there was slow. Is there... And but in general, the trend for this channel last year through the four quarters was a declining growth. I mean, it didn't decline, but the growth sort of slowed down. So is, has there been any SBI stance over insurance or anything that you can share on that? Second is on the competitive landscape. After last year's taxation scheme had enter tier three, four geographies, which is your home turf, in a way. So, are we seeing any increased competition in your geographies? Any color you can give around that? Thank you.
If you are following company's result, you would have noticed that there is very strong seasonality, especially in the banca channel. After a very robust December quarter, our growth in March quarter for the banca channel was flat, in fact, a little negative. But if you notice the numbers for June, we are back on the growth path. Although it is in the lower double digit, but the growth is back, and second and third quarter usually are stronger for banca, and we expect that we will be back on the same growth path in banca again. The second one, I think you referred about the tier two, tier three cities for change in that. So as you know, we have been very strong on the tier two, tier three cities.
Almost kind of 48%-50% of our business comes from these regions. The presence of SBI across geographies in these particular regions are very high. We don't see much competition per se from any quarter, and we will try to enhance our penetration more on these regions to take the target which we have planned for the company.
Sure. So, even incrementally right now, you're not seeing any increased competition or is that what you're trying to indicate?
You can see that the industry is having very robust growth, so there is enough in the market for all the players to take in. We won't say that we are being affected by the competition in any major way.
Okay, sure. This is useful. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Supratim Datta from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. So my first question is on the agency channel. Now, the agency channel has been growing fairly strongly and one of the key drivers there that has been the number of agents that you have been adding over the last two years. Just wanted to understand that, you know, how sustainable is this agent addition, and do you have a target, annual target about how many agents you would like to add every year? So that, that would be my first question before I come to my second question.
So as you would have noticed in my address, I talked about our agency strategic initiative of Agency 2.0, what we are calling it internally in the company. And as you yourself said, that you have been noticing the agent accretion during last few quarters in the company... and the first quarter growth in agency business is the result of the addition of these agents over previous quarters. As we recruit the agent, it takes some time to mature and increase the productivity, and we are now noticing that increase in productivity of our agents and the consequent growth in agency number.
Agency almost grew by 43% on IRP basis, and that is the kind of growth we are looking for in the current year, so that our overall distribution mix, the contribution of agency, is likely to go up.
Got it. Understood. And could you give us a breakdown of, you know, how the margins across the different channels are typically, you know, would agency be a higher or a lower margin channel as compared to Bancassurance and the other channels, if you have—could you give us some sense around that?
So we don't divulge the distribution channel-wise margins for the products as such. So that is the company strategy, and that is how we want to continue in the current year also.
Got it. Understood. And lastly, you know, I understand that you have indicated that in the second and third quarter, the growth typically picks up. But, you know, if I see that, you know, the second and third quarter, you are cycling fairly strong growth over the last two years. If I see on a two-year basis, you know, both quarters you are cycling fairly strong growth. So could you give us a sense that, you know, are, will this growth that you are targeting going to come from new product launches? Or, you know, are there some, you know, other strategies in play that, you know, you will focus on in the second and third quarter, which will result in the growth accelerating from here?
So we will have some segment-specific product launches to drive growth in protection, which we mentioned earlier. You know, and we do believe that certain initiatives on digital platform of the bank that are underway will fructify in this quarter, that is quarter two of financial year, and our normal activity level in bank. All three of them will result in higher sales in Bancassurance channel.
Understood. Okay. Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dipanjan Ghosh from Citibank. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi, good evening, sir. Just a few questions. You know, first, you know, if you can give some color on the business growth in the other channel, which is non-agency, non-SBI. What are the, you know, underlying constituents in terms of both product and, you know, which is the fastest growing sub-segment within that particular segment in terms of the channel mix? Second, you know, you mentioned on the protection product pipeline, but is there any other product that is expected to be launched in the next few quarters? And also, will you be refiling your products before first of October? And if so, what would be the new compost?
Are you planning for any changes, and you mentioned you won't be tweaking the commission structure, but if there will be any other, product structure tweaking that you kind of could be doing. And lastly, you know, you have grown, I mean, we've seen from, you know, dichotomy in the Non-Par growth that we've seen across some of the players with, reported till now, and you've reported a 20% plus sort of a YoY growth. I just wanted to get some color on the, policy growth versus the ticket size growth or the quality of customers, who are really buying this policy.
I will take the question on the other channels, and Prithesh should answer on the product. So on the other channels, it's a mix of PSU bank partners we have, non-PSU bank partners we have, brokers, online channel and direct channel, all everything. So we have seen good growth in the online channel and good growth in some of the partners that we have. There has been a subdued growth in some of the bank partners we have. So net-net. What we expect is the bank partners which have shown subdued growth will come back in quarter two, quarter three, quarter four, and we will continue to show robust growth in our online channels. That is our expectation. And in this channel, depending upon the partner, the product mix keeps varying.
So in some partners, the share of some channels share of protection and Par/Non-Par is very high. In some other channels, we are offering only NPS-like products. So, you know, there is a different color partner by partner analysis will have to be done in terms of product mix for this channel. On the product structure and, Prithesh should mention on the launch.
On the protection product side, what, I mean, sir, MJ also mentioned that, we will be launching our term plans for our SME customers, also for the bank. What we are doing that we're also looking into reinvent our PAR portfolio. So we see few products we are working on, on the Par business. We're also coming out the Par on the Non-Par. And I will mention that we adopting the segment-wide approach, so we have a different geography, different kind of customers, to try to understand their needs and come up with a product with them, suitable to their profile, demographic profile, and their income profile. But we are identifying another one child segment is a growing segment for the company, for the country.
So we will be reinventing the product on child segment, and we'll see the planning to introduce the child par in all three major segments, Par, Non-Par and ULIP platform. And in addition to that, we are rebranding our rider portfolio. So this month, in the month of August, we'll be launching the critical rider and then other three protection rider in pipeline. Objective is to give the complete solution to the customer, and that's, we hope that will help us not only to meet the need of the customer, but also help us to improve the growth, and along with that, improvement in our margin.
Got it, sir. And on the any expected refiling of products prior to first October?
Yes, we will. So we have planned, and we are going to reprice and refile all this product in a gradual manner, not limited to filing on the thirtieth September. So in gradual manner, we will file these, these products.
Good. Sir, just a related question, if you can give the Credit Protect APE for the quarter?
Credit Protect APE is around 47.
Correct.
47% .
Correct. Got it. Okay. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditi Joshi from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you very much for taking my question. So, two questions from my side. Sir, firstly on the composite licensing thing, so, are you still expecting that this composite licensing might come into play? And then if it actually takes into effect, then what sort of benefits can you reap out of it? And from a channel perspective, again, from a composite licensing perspective, which will be a key focus of channel in terms of distribution. And second, on the agency side, do you have any particular product mix on that particular distribution channel in terms of what products you would like your agency to sell?
Because in this quarter, we saw that the ULIP growth was pretty much higher even in the agency side. But going forward, do you think that we might see some higher share of, let's say, protection products coming in from that side? And just lastly, on these new high net worth higher sum assured products that you mentioned, which distribution channel are you focusing on for this product segment? Yeah, thank you.
Okay. So, composite licensing is in the talks for almost last more than a year or so, and regulator and government have to take a call on that. But having said so, the contours of business in life and general insurance are very different, but have some synergies also. The risk, the asset liability management, everything is quite different, but the distribution channel and certain other things, there are synergies. So it has its pros, it has its cons. As far as SBI Life is concerned, our parent bank has company in life insurance, and there is a separate subsidiary which looks after the general business.
So as and when the composite licensing is introduced, the parent will take a call depending on the market condition, and we will be guided by the parent bank in this regarding. Regarding the agency channel, we do not offer differentiated product from agency and banca channel. Their products are common, and the other features are also common to both the channels. The current growth in agency channel is basically being driven by our increased focus, improving infrastructure, opening more number of branches, employing more agent, and focusing on the per-agent productivity, which happens to be one of the highest in the private sector industry. So, going forward, we will continue to focus on the agency channel.
Your third question about the ultra HNI product, we will be focusing on our direct channel as well as banca and agency channel both, because we are simplifying the underwriting processes. We are going to give higher non-medical kind of facility also in protection business, and these will be uniform across the channels.
Okay, got it. Can I just make a quick follow-up question? On your comment that going forward, we'll be focusing on riders as well. So, is it going to be a higher rider attachment on the ULIP products as well? So what sort of products will we have this increased attachment in the rider?
Our objective is to make this rider available to all lines of business, so it will be available to the Par, Non-Par as well as products. This is for all products. We expect that the more and more offerings we'll have in the rider side, it will give opportunity to the customer to fulfill their need, and hence there will be a lot of expectation that our rider attachment will go up.
Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The last question is from the line of Sanketh Godha from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. So it's the same question on the bancassurance channel. See, our AP growth is just 12% in that banca, that is SBI channel. So if you are guiding for 18%-20% kind of a growth for the full year, then the expected growth from the banca channel should be at least 15%-16% for the full year if the momentum in the agency remains at the current level. So just wondering whether if it is 12, then the next nine months you are expecting a growth of around maybe 18- 19 in the banca channel.
Are you fairly confident that 18%-19% kind of a growth will happen to deliver that mid-teen, high-teen to 20% kind of a growth what you have guided for, for AP? That's the thing, and what will lead to it? I understand the seasonality part, but just want to understand that part little better. Second is that, if you do not quantify. You said there is a marginal impact, you did not quantify the number. But assuming this current product mix remains same, true for the entire year, maybe how much that impact would be, maybe less than a percentage or 50-60 basis points?
Means if you can give a ballpark number, assuming the current product mix will remain true, what will be the likely impact on the margins because of the surrender norms? Yeah, those are my questions.
Well, you still answered what you asked for, that the 12% growth rate is based on the seasonality in the banca channel. The March quarter growth rate was almost nil. It came back to 12%. Second and third quarter are usually strong for banca, and in addition, we are expecting good business in the protection segment. The digital product that we are going to offer on the YONO channel, we have very high hopes because it is a much simplified product with a lesser premium, and we expect very good growth in this also. The strong growth in ULIP is continuing, so that also in second, third quarter will provide us good growth opportunities.
Pushing it from 12% to the number you yourself said, around 15%- 16%, that is not much of a difference. We are very sure, very sanguine that the kind of 18%- 20% growth guidance that we are giving, we will be able to stick to that.
Got it. And if you can quantify the this impact on the margins with the current product mix?
We will not exactly quantify, but this will definitely be much lesser than the 1% number that you quoted.
Okay. And lastly, if I can squeeze in one. See, even your group protection has slowed down, group annuity has slowed down, I understand, which could be tactical based on the growth when the corporates will do it. But even individual number, individual annuity seems to have declined 10% year-on-year. So, anything to read there, is it because of the IRR pressure, competitive pressure, or the competition has launched more customer-friendly products and that is leading to a bit of slowdown in individual annuity?
Sanketh, there are two things to it. Credit Life, as of today, it is growing at 5%. But as MD has already mentioned, that there is a big uptick on the single loan side because of the various things going on in the economy. So we expect that the Credit Life will grow better than what we have seen in the first quarter. Second, as far as the GTI businesses are concerned, it is a business which is getting negotiated during the course of the year, and we expect that some transactions will fructify during the next two, three quarters, and we definitely get as desired for us in the current financial year.
And as far as the annuity is concerned, it is a bulky business, and we don't have much pressure as far as the pricing is concerned, but we will see what is the beneficial for us as far as the VNB acquisition is concerned. If it is a positive VNB, definitely we will be going forward for the larger deals in the coming quarter. So overall, we expect that the group, from the Credit Life as well as from the group annuity, will go up in the coming quarters.
Sir, my question was on individual annuity, which has also declined by 10%. Is there any pressure there in that space?
No, it has a subdued this quarter, but our rates are quite competitive, and we expect that this will bounce back in the coming quarters to come.
Okay, perfect. That's it from my side. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Jhingran, Managing Director and CEO, for closing comments.
Good, thank you very much, everybody, the ladies and gentlemen, for the time and the queries and the interest shown by all of you. You may get in touch with our Investor Relation team in case you have any, follow-up question at any point of time. Thank you. God bless.
On behalf of SBI Life Insurance Company, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.