Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the SBI Life Insurance Company Q2 FY2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listener mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touchtone phone. 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 afternoon, everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to the results update call of SBI Life Insurance for the half year ended September 30th, 2025. We appreciate and thank you for your valuable time and efforts involved in analyzing the results and joining our earnings call. Updates on our financial results can be accessed on our website as well as on the websites of both the stock exchanges. Along with me, Mr. Sangramjit Singh Sarangi, President and CFO , Mr. Abhijit Gulanikar, President – Business Strategy, Mr. Sugandhu Subramanian, President and Chief Risk Officer, Mr. Prithesh Chaubey, President and Appointed Actuary, and Ms. Ismita Verma, Senior Vice President – Finance and Investor Relations, are present. First of all, we welcome the government's recent GST reform aimed at improving the affordability and accessibility of life insurance.
This move underscores the critical role of the life insurance sector that it plays in providing financial security across diverse segments of society and supports the sector's long-term sustainable growth. It is also in line with the government's goal of Insurance for All by 2047. However, the industry players are required to reassess and realign their strategies in light of the non-availability of input tax credit under individual business segments. We believe the industry players will comfortably navigate these changes and work on the implementation of various measures to handle the said impact. Adhering to the core principle of customer-first approach of the company, the company has passed the entire GST benefit to its customers. Additionally, in September, we enhanced the benefit amount, the return rate in the Platina series of our non-participating guaranteed products by passing on the benefit of the yield curve to customers.
Q2 was a good quarter for the company, marked by a strategic shift in the product mix with robust performance in both individual and group protection segments. During the quarter, we introduced two new products: Smart Shield Plus, a protection product, and Smart Money Back Plus, a participating product, tailored to meet the evolving needs of the customers. Notably, Smart Money Back Plus received a good response, and more than 8,500 customers opted for the product in less than 15 days of its launch. Also, Smart Shield Plus contributes 11% of the total protection sum assured. This strong early performance underscores the product's relevance and its wide acceptance amongst customers.
Despite operating on a high base from the corresponding period of last year, we have achieved the highest new business premium in the private industry, which reaffirms the resilience of our strategy and the deep trust our customers place in us. As the insurance landscape continues to evolve, the importance of protection-oriented solutions is more pronounced than ever. SBI Life Insurance Company remains committed to expanding and innovating within this space to meet the increasing financial security needs of our customers. Looking ahead, our unwavering focus on customer trust, a well-diversified product portfolio, and disciplined execution will continue to drive sustainable growth and long-term value for all stakeholders. Now, let me give you some key highlights for the period ended September 30th, 2025. New business premium stands at INR 183.5 billion lakh, with a 17% growth and a private market share of 22.2%.
Individual rated new business premium stands at INR 86.8 billion lakh, with a growth of 7% and a private market share of 22.6%. Gross return premium stands at INR 429 billion lakh, with a growth of 19%. Profit after tax grew by 4% at INR 10.89 billion lakh as compared to the corresponding period last year. Value of new business stands at INR 27.5 billion lakh, with a growth of 14%. VNB margin stands at 27.8% for the period ended September 30th, 2025, a gain of 98 basis points. Indian embedded value for the company as on September 30, 2025, stands at INR 760 billion lakh. Our assets under management stand at INR 4.81 trillion lakh, with a growth of 10% over the corresponding period last year. Solvency ratio at 1.94 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. On individual rated new business, we stand at INR 86.8 billion lakh, with a growth of 7% over the corresponding period last year and maintaining our leadership position with a private market share of 22.6% and a total market share of 16.1%. The company's three-year CAGR of individual rated new business premium stands at 12.7%, outpacing the industry CAGR of 10.2%. Group new business premium stands at INR 61.7 billion lakh, with a contribution of 34% in new business premium. We have collected a total new business premium of INR 183.5 billion lakh. The company's private market share stands at 22.2% and the total market share stands at 9%. The company's three-year CAGR of new business premium stands at 12%, outpacing the industry CAGR of 4%. Renewal premium grew by 21% to INR 245.5 billion lakh, which accounts for 57% of gross return premium.
To sum up, gross return premium stands at INR 429 billion lakh, with a growth of 19% over the corresponding previous period. In terms of APE, premium stands at INR 99.2 billion lakh, registering a growth of 10%. Out of this, individual APE stands at INR 87.8 billion lakh, with a growth of 6%. During the half year ended September 30th, 2025, a total of INR 9.6 lakh new policies were issued. The number of lives covered during the half year ended September 30th is INR 11.9 million lakh. The growth in sum issued serves as a positive indicator of consumer confidence and the increasing awareness of the importance of financial protection. Individual and group new business sum issued registered a growth of 76% and 107% respectively compared to the corresponding period last year. Let me give you details about the product mix.
As on September 25, our guaranteed non-participating saving products are contributing 20% on an individual APE basis. Amidst aggressive pricing trends across the industry, the company has remained disciplined, aligning its non-participating saving product pricing with market yields and has still achieved steady and sustainable growth in this segment. Individual unit new business is at INR 67 billion lakh, and it constitutes 55% of individual new business. Protection business contributes 11% of APE and stands at INR 10.6 billion lakh. We continue to maintain a strong focus on the protection business, which remains a key pillar of our growth strategy. The protection segment recorded robust performance with a 33% year-on-year growth on an APE basis. Individual protection APE is at INR 3.7 billion lakh. Individual protection business for H1FY2026 has grown by 16% on an APE basis as compared to H1FY2025.
It is noteworthy that the individual pure protection category, which saw exceptional growth of 143% on an APE basis, reflects rising awareness and demand for comprehensive financial protection, while the individual sum issued in the protection segment grew by 108%. Group protection APE stands at INR 6.8 billion lakh, with a strong growth of 44%. Credit life APE has grown by 26% and stands at INR 1.3 billion lakh. Traction in non-participating products on an APE basis continues and witnessed a growth of 26%. Participating products witnessed a strong momentum in Q2, with new business premium increasing by 57% compared to Q1. New business premium in participating products has increased to INR 2.7 billion lakh in Q2 as compared to INR 1.7 billion lakh in Q1 of FY2026. Retirement plans assist customers in building a substantial corpus of funds to maintain their desired lifestyle and manage expenses in their golden years.
Total annuity and pension new business underwritten by the company is INR 37.8 billion lakh. Moving to update on our distribution partners, with a strength of more than 58,000 CIF, the bancassurance business of State Bank of India and Regional Rural Banks contributes 57% of the total APE business. On an individual APE basis, it stands at INR 54.7 billion lakh, reflecting a growth of 7%. State Bank of India branch productivity on individual APE terms stands at INR 4.6 million for the period, registering a growth of 6%. Banks other than State Bank of India Group are also growing at 29%. In Q1 FY2026, our banker share on an NBP basis was 27% of the overall industry. The agency individual rated premium stands at INR 28.3 billion lakh as on 30th September 2025. Our agent productivity for the period stands at INR 2.7 lakh on individual NBP terms.
Agency channel has witnessed a shift in product mix, increasing contribution from the non-part segment by 738 basis points, and the share of units stands at 62% versus 70% in the corresponding period last year, supported by a robust growth of 83% in agency individual sum issued. During the half year ended, the company added more than 64,000 agents on a gross basis. We have opened 44 new branches this year. The expansion is aligned with our vision to create infrastructure that supports the long-term development of our agency channel. As mentioned in opening remarks, the other channels, direct corporate agents, brokers, online, and web aggregators grew at 36% in terms of individual new business premium and contributed 14% of total APE as compared to the corresponding period last year. Non-part business through other channels registered a growth of 35% on an APE basis.
We are investing in building our online business channel. Individual rated premium through this channel has grown by 34% in the current quarter compared to the corresponding quarter of last year, and protection business through this channel on IRP terms grew by 55% as compared to the corresponding quarter of last year. Moving to updates on profitability, our financial performance reflects the transitional impact of revised GST rates on life insurance premiums, which led to increased GST expenses and some pressure on profitability. The company's profit after tax for the half year ethnded September 30, 2025, stands at INR 10.89 billion lakh, with a growth of 4% as compared to the corresponding period last year. Our solvency remained strong at 1.94 as against the regulatory requirement of 1.50. Value of new business stands at INR 27.5 billion lakh, with a growth of 14%. VNB margin stands at 27.8%. Excuse me.
For half year ended September 30, 2025, as compared to 26.8% in H1 of FY2025, this shift in VNB is mainly on account of a shift in product mix as compared to the corresponding quarter. For Q2 FY2026, the VNB margin is 28.0% as compared to 26.8% for the same period last year, and VNB stands at INR 16.7 billion lakh, a growth of 15%. The said VNB and margin is post-accounting the impact of GST changes. Without the GST impact, the H1 VNB growth is at 17%, and margin would stand at 28.5%. Embedded value for the company as on September 30, 2025, stands at INR 760 billion lakh, growth of 15% over the corresponding period, and operating return on EV is at 17.6%.
Coming to operational efficiency, the OpEx ratio stands at 6.2%, and the total cost ratio stands at 10.9% for the half year ended September 30th, 2025, as compared to 5.8% and 10.6% respectively for the half year ended September 30th, 2024. With respect to persistency of individual regular premium, 13th month persistency stands at 87.11% with an improvement of 70 basis points. As mentioned in my opening remarks, assets under management stand at INR 4.81 trillion lakh as at September 30th, 2025, having a growth of 10%. Best claim settlement ratio stands at 99% for the half year ended September 30th. Our misselling ratio stands at 0.02%, which is one of the lowest in the private industry, and this is achieved through our consistent approach adopted to ensure right selling to the customers.
Digitalization is transforming the life insurance industry, enabling us to deliver enhanced services and a more seamless experience for our customers. As we embrace this digital transformation, we remain committed to innovation and excellence, ensuring that we stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape. The company continues efficient usage of technology for simplification of processes, with 99% of individual proposals being submitted digitally. 59% of the individual proposals are processed through automated underwriting. To conclude, by fostering a culture of resilience and continuous improvement, supported by a clear focus of developing our agency channel along with partners' bank network, we are confidently positioned for the future. Our commitment to provide exceptional customer service strengthens client relationships and reinforces our status as a trusted leader in the market.
As I mentioned in opening remarks, the company is confident that the recent GST reform in the long term will add to the overall growth potential of the life insurance sector in India. With few structural changes, the industry will reap long-term benefits from this reform. We remain optimistic about our H2 growth with improved customer sentiment. With a focus on long-term sustainable and profitable growth, we aim to create lasting value for our customers, shareholders, and communities, paving the way for a prosperous future together. Thank you all, and now we are happy to take any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much, sir. 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 withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking the question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of MW Kim with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. I note that overall the protection business is expanding rapidly. However, on the review of the EV movement, it appears that the current EV unwind is substantial relative to the new business addition. I have two questions. Firstly, is the company targeting higher growth in the protection sales over the coming period? If so, what is the management expectation for the mix of the protection business contribution over the next 12- 24 months? Secondly, given this focus, should we expect potentially the milder near-term earnings growth potential as a greater portion of the profit may be deferred and recognized over the longer period if the protection books start to grow larger? That is my question. Thank you.
As we discussed in the last conference calls also, and as has been the company's guidance, protection is one of the focus areas for the company, and we have been consistently introducing new product lines in the protection segment for both agency and banker channel, as well as also on the Yono channel for the digital customers of our partner bank. Our expectation of protection growth has met with success, and the growth in the protection segment has been higher compared to the overall growth of the company. That is the result of our products that we have introduced, which are very competitive as far as the price point is concerned. With the recent GST reduction, the most benefited segment will also be the protection segment. We expect that going forward, the growth in the protection segment will be even higher.
It also gels with the increasing financial awareness amongst the young population of India. The company expects to increase its protection sales to above 10% of individual APE, and it is in line with our H1 growth. What is your second question, sir?
Yeah. The second question is about the profit recognition. Is that we have the bigger portion of the protection book, and then once this is accumulated in the reserve, how this could translate into the EV unwind and then overall the earnings in general?
See, as you know, the protection business is a high margin business. If the protection business keeps growing, unwinding will happen. I think protection is a long-term business, so unwinding for the protection will be gradual in nature, and it will unwind over the longer period. Only one thing we have to keep in mind.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, please go.
Pure protection business is increasing in proportion, and we think that trend will continue a little. To that extent, the premium growth as a proportion of share will not be in line with sum assured growth, it will be much higher than premium growth.
Okay, that's very, very helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kushagra Goel with CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Just a clarification. You said you expect individual protection to be more than 10% of individual APE. Can you give some timeline as to when you expect this to happen?
Yeah. Actually, it is not on the individual business. It is on the overall APE basis. We expect it to be more than 10%. Sorry for the slip.
Okay. Individual protection to be more than 10% of total APE?
Protection business to be more than total, more than 10% of APE, not the individual protection. Sorry for the slip.
Okay. Got it. Sure. Moving to the main question, one is, if you could sort of help us clarify the GST impact. You have said that it's 70- 80 basis points on the first half, right? That would have happened only on the September sales. If I try and calculate an annualized gross number, that's coming to be quite high. If you could call out what would be the gross impact of this GST change on VNB margins, that would be quite helpful.
If you see, we have clarified this total GST impact is 80 basis points for the H1. Out of that, the business return on 22nd and onward has an impact of only 20 basis points. This nine-day business will constitute around 11%, 11.5% precisely. If you extrapolate the impact for the margin, it will be 1.74%. Given you see the profile upgrade in the business is more than 100 basis points, and given that our protection sales is increasing, we have been launching the protections, and we are also about to launch the protection rider, and current protection rider attachment is more than 38%. We are expecting this uplift in the profile and product mix in H2 will be more than sufficient to absorb this GST impact of 1.74%. Hence, in H2, our impact will be maybe able to maintain a similar level of margin. Otherwise, maybe 20- 30 basis point impact might happen, not more than that.
Okay. That's very helpful. Just one final question. Are you negotiating with your distributors about this impact, or will you, as you said, the product mix shift will help you absorb it, so you won't be changing any distributor commissions or anything of that sort?
No. As of now, we are not considering any changes in the distribution commission, and the company will be utilizing other levers on operational sites and the product mix sites to manage this impact.
Got it. Got it, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Avinash Singh with Emkay Global . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Just two clarifications. The first one is, again, on margins. The 20 basis point margin impact is for the last nine days or 11% of the first half individual business. Does that mean that 60 basis point impact is coming from that 89% of the business that you wrote where you had to kind of adjust your maintenance expense exemptions? Is my understanding correct that this 60 basis point impact is coming on the business written after April 1, 2025, until September 21, and on that business, you have to now readjust your maintenance expense exemptions? That's one. The second piece of clarification, of course, I mean, you clarified that you are going to adjust up or rather pull on the other levers at the product level and operational efficiency to drive or rather adjust for this margin loss or GST impact.
Does that mean that, okay, if you are not going to touch the distributor commission, of course, that's already very low. If you're not going to touch that, and also if you are not going to touch your product constructing unit, I mean, your reduction in yield, does that mean, I mean, at the product level, unit is going to see some softer margin? These are my two questions. Thanks.
On the first question, we'll reiterate that total GST impact is 80 basis points. The reason we classified 0.2 separately is the input tax credit available for the business return prior to the 22nd of October and after the 22nd of April is different because in 22nd onward, you will not get the input tax credit for all premium, including the first-year premium. Whereas in the business return prior to 22nd, right from the 1st of April, we'll have the input tax credit available for the first premium, but the input tax credit will not be available for renewal premium. That's the impact we clarified. On the second question on unit, we don't expect there will be compression on unit margin. In fact, we expect the unit margin to slightly go up given the product that we launched as a longer term, a longer premium paying term and other.
We have also introduced the rider attaching to those products. If I look into totality, the unit business along with the protection rider attached to the unit business, we are expecting there will be some uplift in the unit margin itself. Another part you were saying that the unit business, you see, the impact is also not there on the charges. You'll get the secondary order benefit on the removal of GST that also will help to compensate the impact of the GST on unit business.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Swarnabha Mukherjee with B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. A couple of questions on, you know, other products. I mean, first of all, non-part, just wanted to understand that in this category, we have seen strong growth. I think our overall absolute numbers also look very strong compared to, you know, what we have seen in the last few quarters. Now, what is the headroom for growth in this product? I think essentially this quarter's growth was largely driven by this product. What is the headroom for growth? Given the third quarter, normally we see an uptick on the unit side. This year, would we be able to replace with non-part in terms of the mix going forward? What would be the strategy there?
Given that, you know, you mentioned that you have passed on the benefits of the yield curve movement to customers, how should we think about the margin in this product? Is there a bit of a margin squeeze there? If you could help us understand that. Second is on the group savings side. Is this a group fund management product or is also group annuity classified in this? The reason why I'm asking you the question is because I think, you know, the sizable jump in this product. However, you know, your overall margin profile has been very strong this quarter. Just wanted to understand that is this a detractor in terms of margin this quarter? Had this growth been not there, then would we have expected the, you know, overall margin profiles to be even stronger? Wanted your comments on that. Yeah. These are my two questions, sir.
If you look at the growth of our various lines of businesses, the entire growth is coming from the non-part and part segment. In the non-part segment, all three segments, NVPs, protection, as well as the guaranteed return lines are showing strong growth, and so is the protection growth. We also introduced new part products during the first half year and in the last month of September also. In both these products, we have seen strong growth coming in. You were right about the third quarter having a unit strong quarter, but in the first 23 days, what we have seen is that we are maintaining the trend of the month of September specifically, and the growth is coming from the non-part and part segment. Unit, we are maintaining at the same level.
Our ask from our distributor is not to deny unit sales, not to deny unit product to our customers, but at the same time, the focus for growth should be on the non-part and part products, which are margin accurate for the company also. We see good growth coming in, and we expect that this trend will continue in the third and fourth quarter also. Group fund is a lumpy business, so you don't expect such kind of growth to come forward. We get some couple of big clients, and then in certain quarters, we will show large growth. I would not read too much into growth of group fund business.
The other question on the.
Sorry.
Yeah, yeah. Please go ahead, sir.
Other question is that passing on the benefit to the customer in the moment that already break even. What we do is that we keep monitoring the interest rate movement, and we keep repricing those products to pass on the benefit to that. Our endeavor is to maintain the margin at the current level. In case the yield curve movement moves down, we will go and reprice the product. As of now, the benefits, yield curve giving the party benefits, we are just passing on to the customers. We don't expect any dent or any reflection will come on that because of the repricing. We have been doing the repricing, and the repricing has been done both ways depending on which direction the yield curve is moving up.
Right, sir. Understood. Sir, just to clarify once more, you said maybe next quarter 20, 30 basis points kind of impact coming due to the GST impact. Given that group fund management business is relatively lumpy, maybe it won't be there next quarter. If our product mix remains steady, would it be correct to assume that maybe next quarter we'll be able to even build up on the margin profile that we have reported this quarter?
Our guidance for the margin remains what we had given earlier in the range of 26%- 28%. We are kind of happy that we are sticking to that range despite the headwinds. Going forward also, our guidance and our expectation remains the same of around what we guided earlier.
Okay, sir. Would it be fair to assume that if it crosses 28, then you might reinvest in the business? Would that be a fair assumption?
Hypothetical. Let's see how it goes going forward, right?
Sure. Understood, sir. All right. Thank you so much and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sanketh Godha with Avendus Park. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. A small clarification: if the product mix, what you have done after September 22, remains broadly the same, then the impact you are expecting to be on the full-year margin is 174 basis points. That's the right understanding, sir, right?
Yeah. What we're saying is that if product mix will remain there, we'll continue to get the uplift on the profile mix, and that will more or less offset the impact on GST. In H2, particularly, if you're able to maintain this product mix, we're able to deliver the margin that we have reported for the September.
Got it. Got it, sir. The second thing, sir, is on growth. The last part of your growth in the current half came from the other channels. While your banker and agency still seems to be lower compared to your own standard 7% growth, 2% growth seems to be very muted on individual APE. Any color you want to give why these channels are still struggling when we can expect this growth to come back in this channel?
Our dominant channels are banker and agency channels. We keep reviewing our business strategies, our distribution strategies in line with the growth. When we saw that up to the month of August, the expectations were not being met, we tweaked certain norms, and that has resulted in a very positive environment in the month of September. If you look at the individual September month's numbers, the growth was around 15%. We are happy that the same trend is continuing in the month of October also. I think that both the channels, agency as well as banker, are back on track since the month of September. On the same basis, we are expecting that we will be able to meet the guidance that we had provided for originally.
Okay. To conclude, is it in the second half, banker and agency can grow or meet the needs or at least in the sense?
Definitely. Yes.
Okay. Okay, sir. In unit, you alluded to the point that higher riders, maybe longer plans, will improve the margins for the negation of the GST impact. I just want to understand at the current juncture how much of the total unit, what we sell, have attachments of riders, percentage terms if you can quantify, and how much you can take it to basically. Yes. For products which are eligible, around 40% products, we have rider attachment in the first half. 37 or 38%.
38%.
Exactly. Sir, how much do you expect it to grow potentially?
Yes.
In a short period, if 30% or 38%.
To old policies, that is the area which we have not yet explored. We are attaching only to new business now, and we are working on how we can attach to renewals also.
Okay. Understood, sir. Lastly, if I can squeeze in, the impact of GST when you said in the press release immediately after the GST announcement, it was 20 basis points. Now it seems to be around 47 basis points. Any reason for the difference between 20 and 47 basis points?
See, when we make the release, that is given as the end-of-year impact. We are in, and this is what we reported today as of late. We have not built up any efficiency that we're looking into. By March end, we expect there will be some efficiency will come on site. At the same time, EV growth will also be there. That is the result we're able to reach the impact what we have initially estimated. We're closer to the estimate number. As of now, we have reported not building up any efficiency for the future.
Okay. Thanks. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Nadesh with InvesTech. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. The first question again is on the GST impact. I'm not able to understand why in VNB box, the impact is 80 basis points while you are saying that the recurring impact is only 20 basis points. What is leading to this 60 basis point impact that we have seen in H1 because of GST change?
As I explained earlier as well, there is a difference in the availability of input credit on GST. While the business return prior to the 22nd of October, they have availed the GST input credit for the first-year premium, but the same input credit is no longer available for the renewal premium. Whereas in the business return 22nd and onward, the GST impact will not be available for the premium. Even for the business return prior to the 22nd of October, there will be some impact on the GST. That's the reason you see the number that we reported is 0.8.
Okay. Understood. What is the AP growth guidance for the full year and for the full year?
AP growth, as we mentioned, it will be in the around 13%-1 4%. We are talking about individual APE for the overall for FY2026.
Sure, if you can break up the group protection APE in credit life APE and non-credit life APE for the quarter.
Credit life has grown by about 25%. Remaining is non-credit life.
Okay. Thank you. That's it for my side.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Madhukar Ladha with Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Just first on the GST. What I understand is if we don't do anything, then there is about a 174 basis points impact on the margins, which you are saying is that currently the new business mix profile, if that sustains, then it will completely offset this negative impact. Is that understanding correct? Hello?
To some extent, yeah. To some extent, you're right. What we're saying is that 1.74 is if you would be doing the product mix that we have done the last year. You have seen that there is an uplift coming on the margin on account of the profile change. That offsets. The second point is 1.74 is the margin for the new business. In the second half, approximately you're right, 58% kind of business. If you even do that, even if you've not done anything, the margin impact will not be 1.74. It will be around 1% kind of things because 60%. The new business profile uplift will be able to offset this. We are quite optimistic on that. This is the work that we have done, and the distribution channel is doing that in terms of getting the better profile product mix.
Within the product mix also is the better profile attachment rider and other. That will be able to offset that.
Got it. If I look at the EV walk from March 2025 until now, there are certain operating experience variances and economic assumption changes, etc. Have we made any, we've not made any assumption changes, right? It's only sort of operating experience variance.
Yes, you're right. We have not made any changes in the assumption, so assumption remains the same. Only this is coming. Economic assumption is just a matter of the moment in the yield curve that we're taking care of. Other aspects will come on the operating variance that we're getting into.
Got it. Final question on the growth side, our pillars of growth have always been bancassurance and agency. Growth in first half and even last year was weaker in these channels. What should we expect going forward? Yeah.
Yes, first half growth, if you look at the consolidated half-year numbers, that is lower at 7% on individual rated premium basis. When we look at the number of standalone months, September, the growth is around 15%. What happened is when we saw that the kind of growth that was happening till the month of August, we tweaked certain schemes and we re-engaged with our distributors and all. The month of September provided a growth of around 15% in the IRP basis. We are seeing that the same kind of trend is continuing in the month of October also. As of now, we are sticking to our guidance for the full year that was provided at around 13% to 14%. We are optimistic that we will be able to meet this growth by the end of the financial year.
Thank you, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ripanjan Ghosh with Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, sir. A few questions. First, you mentioned your growth on the online business, both in terms of IRP and also in terms of protection. Those are quite strong numbers. I just wanted to get some sense of the strategic change on the online side and what is really driving this growth. Is there a vision that you've discussed with your counterparties on the online side in terms of the counter share that you would want to have at those specific counters? Second question is on the non-SBI banker. In your opening commentary, you mentioned that there has been a strong growth in those channels also. Could you give some color on your counter share in those channels or the overall growth trajectory of the product mix that you're targeting in those non-SBI banker channels?
Third, you have touched upon this, but I just wanted to kind of dig a little bit deep in terms of what norms were there till August, which got tweaked in September, because of which you are seeing incremental growth picking up at agency and banker. If you can give some granular color on that part.
Okay. That is, we keep tweaking our context from time to time on what works, what does not work. We can't provide any picture on details of what we tweaked in September. We assure that we do watch very carefully how distributors and Salesforce respond to the schemes and the products we have, and then try to meet their expectations from time to time. As far as online business is concerned, it is coming almost solely from our own website and not from any partner. We have been working on our site for quite some time. You will further see improvement in the tech that we are providing, backend tech, also the products that are getting offered. The new products, Smart Shield Plus and Smart Shield Premier, have been extremely well taken in online channels because it is extremely competitive.
We will continue to see improvement in online as a combination of the product offering and the tech support. There is still a long way to go. We are not market leaders there like we are in our other businesses. We would have a long way to go there. As far as other banks are concerned, non-SBI bank, the unit share there is much lower than our main channels, agency and banker, less than 25%. We will continue to grow at this 15% kind of growth rate that we have seen in the first half. Maybe slightly higher, but I wouldn't want to say anything around the same numbers, 15% growth in non-SBI channels. Non-SBI banker.
Just to follow, what is the mix of non-SBI banker within your overall individual APE?
I think 3%?
Yeah.
3%. I'll double-check the number, but it is small.
Got it. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Nod Rajamani with Nirmal Bang. Please go ahead.
Good evening. Thank you for taking my question. I had a question on this par construct specifically. If you're saying that you're not going to tinker with, say, the commission payouts and so on, and you're trying to also increase, you know, trying to attach more riders and also increasing tenure and so on. Given the issues with the participating product construct, will it be fair to say that a lot of the costs of this GST and so on will be borne by the end consumer in the sense that the returns might be below what it was, say, before this input tax credit was allowed? That is the only question I have on the participating product. Thank you.
Not really. As you keep saying that we have been fair to the customer, and in case of non-part product where we would have inflated our margin, we have passed on the benefit to the customer. There is no question for charging this passing on borne by the par policyholder. What we are trying to say is that we are trying to grow the participating business, and our business composition, what we're seeing is not 3%- 4%. We do have the existing book on that prospect. When you price and you do the supportable bonus, because if I compare us to the other player, our commission rate and expenses were much lower. That will help us to absorb this impact, and that will not have adverse impact on the participant business. Our participant fund is significant, and they're also giving very handsome return.
If you look into the bonuses that we're giving to the customer, we have the last three years, we keep increasing the bonuses, and we have always declared the bonus what we have illustrated, even more than that. That prospective will continue to ensure that what bonuses we have illustrated, despite not as a company, we're able to deliver that. No point we are trying to pass on the expenses to the end consumer for par. To be noted, our par business is only 3%- 4%. Not as significant that we are going to use the participating business to absorb our expenses.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Nischint Chawathe with Kotak. Please go ahead.
Hi, am I audible?
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Yeah. Please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. I was just looking at the impact on EV because of the GST change and likewise on the margins. I understand that you shared a part of the margin impact, basically assigning to the renewal business. If I try to really do the ratios, the way it works out to be is that the impact on EV is around 40 odd basis points, 40, 45. If I pick up the renewal business, basically, it works out to something like around 67, 70 basis points. First of all, is my math accurate and why would there be this difference?
Nischint, I think it is not appropriate to compare the impact of EV to the new business, correct? Because EV has the existing book that has a different mix, and there is a significant profit coming from it. Whereas if you look into the EV renewal new business that is written there, all that is a longer product because we're selling non-part and the longer tenure as compared to the existing one. That's the reason we might see the impact for the unavailability of input credit for renewal premium has had an impact. I will suggest not to, there is no way link between the VNB impact as compared to the EV impact on the product.
I understood what you're trying to say. Thank you very much. All the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shreya Shivani with Nomura. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of numbers. I have two questions. My first question is on the expense ratio side. This is the non-commission expenses. That seems to be slightly higher this year versus trends in the previous year. Any colors on what is adding to this? My second question is on the other channel, which has been doing well for us. I understand you mentioned that the non-SBI banks is about 3% of the mix. 14 - 3, what is the split of the remaining 11%? How much would be our website? How much would be brokers, etc.? Sorry, one more question. Third question. Can you give us in descending order what is the product which gets hit the most because of the GST cut and which one would be the least impacted for SBI Life?
See, as far as the expense ratio is concerned, I think it is normal, which is planned accordingly in sync with the business growth which we have aspired for FY 2026. There is no such kind of arounces as we planned. As far as the non-SBI to SBI, as already mentioned, we have got almost around 3% business, and the rest is coming from group business. That is the reason the overall number which we see, that is as a total business, including the non-SBI. The last one, product-wise, the GST impact, I don't think so there is any such kind of bifurcations are warranted. What we have done is overall we have calculated and given as per the requirement on the VNB and the margins are concerned.
Increase in expenses, you can also attribute to our planned expansion of our branches that we had guided for. We have opened 44 new branches, and there is an increase in employee count by more than 3,500 during the first half year. That is coming in as an increase in operating expenses.
Right, sir. My question on the non-SBI banks was basically the channel mix, 14% is other channels. In that, 3% I get is non-SBI banks. What is the other 11% split between brokers and our own website?
See, it is all group business. Just our internal, what we do is it has a direct business.
Okay. All right. So bancassurance channel is only State Bank of India. Others have non-State Bank of India banks and the group business, right?
Correct.
Okay.
Correct. Correct. Correct.
Got it. Thank you. Thank you so much. This was useful and all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing remarks.
Thank you very much, everyone, for your time and queries. You may get in touch with our Investor Relations team in case you have any follow-up questions. Thank you and good day ahead.
Thank you. On behalf of SBI Life Insurance Company, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.