India's ICICI Life posts key quarterly margin below estimates, shares slide

Shares of India's ICICI Life Insurance slid 3 per cent after the company reported a new business margin below analysts' forecasts on Tuesday. According to Business Recorder, the insurer still posted a 25 per cent rise in second-quarter profit compared with a year earlier. The value of new business, a measure of expected profit from policies sold, climbed 24.7 per cent on the quarter to 7.12 billion Indian rupees.

The margin, however, dropped to 25.4 per cent from 26.7 per cent in the prior quarter, based on a Reuters calculation. The shift toward higher-margin products was meant to offset pressure from lost tax benefits, but that did not happen as expected, since protection policies lost share while market-linked policies gained. At least five brokerages, including Systematix and Elara, had forecast a margin between 25.5 and 26.5 per cent.

Annualised premium equivalent sales rose 15.6 per cent to 27.99 billion rupees, while net premium income grew 16.6 per cent to 138.04 billion rupees. Analysts expect growth in the life insurance sector to ease for the rest of fiscal 2027 after a rush of policy sales following a cut in consumption taxes on individual premiums. The company, which shifted toward growth after prioritising margins, earlier this month named Sidharatha Mishra as managing director and CEO effective Wednesday, after Anup Bagchi resigned to lead HDFC Bank.