HDFC Life closes first half with lower PAT of Rs 577 cr

Chennai, Oct 22 (IANS) Private insurance major HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd closed the first half of the current fiscal with a net profit of about Rs 577 crore, down from Rs 777 crore logged during previous year corresponding period, MD and CEO Vibha Padalkar said on Friday.

She also said the company is in discussions with re-insurers on rate revision and a decision on it is expected to happen by the end of this year. The process of merging Exide Life Insurance is progressing well, she added.

Announcing the financial results, Padalkar said the company posted a lower net profit owing to increased provisioning against claims.

She said the company had settled about 200,000 claims during the first half of the year.

The gross and net claims amounted to Rs 3,640 crore and Rs 2,466 crore, respectively.

"The overall experience has been in line with our projections and we carry an Excess Mortality Reserve (EMR) of Rs 204 crore into H2 FY22," she said.

The company had created a provision of Rs 700 crore as EMR to cover increased claims due to Covid-19. An additional Rs 60 crore provision has been created during the second quarter of this year.

The company had earned a total premium of Rs 19,287 crore during the period under review up from Rs 16,045 crore earned during H1 of last fiscal.

Queried about the rate revision asked by the re-insurers and the company's decision on increasing its risk retention rate, Chief Financial Officer Niraj Shah said the policy continues to change.

According to him, the company is also expanding its geographical presence and the experience changes with that.

Padalkar said the upward rate revision in reinsurance is not expected before the last quarter of the current fiscal and how much of that would be passed on to the policyholders will be decided after that.

According to her, the company has applied to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for their nod for merging Exide Life Insurance with itself.

"We should be able to get their approval early Q4 or late Q3," Padalkar said.

HDFC Life's solvency ratio went down to 190 per cent at the end of first half from 203 per cent as on March 30, 2021.

The embedded value of the company at the end of first half was Rs 28,703 crore.