Shriram Life Insurance plans to double down on its focus on the retail insurance segment this fiscal while remaining cautious about the price-sensitive group life business.
“We have a good growth momentum and our base has significantly increased over the last two years. So, we are targeting over 25% growth in individual (retail) new business premiums this year,” Casparus JH Kromhout, managing director and CEO, told FE.
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Shriram Life reported a total premium of Rs 4,216 crore in FY25, up from Rs 3,508 crore in FY24. Individual new business premiums jumped 46% to Rs 1,372 crore while group premiums declined to Rs 906 crore from Rs 932 crore.
“We are definitely seeing pressure on the group side of the business,” Kromhout said, adding that competitiveness in the segment has increased with the entry of more players and aggressive pricing. “Our approach is not to grow the group business at all costs.”
Instead, the company is looking to aggressively build its individual business, supported by proprietary distribution channels. “These are channels we control,” he said. The number of individual policies sold rose 21% YoY to 541,000 in FY25.
Shriram Life primarily caters to rural and middle-income segments and first-time insurance buyers. It targets households with annual income of Rs 5–15 lakh, with an average individual policy size of Rs 25,346 — well below the private industry average of more than Rs 90,000.
“About 35% of our retail APE and nearly 10% of our number of policies now come from customers earning over Rs 15 lakh annually,” Kromhout said. The company is expanding capacity and product portfolio to serve this segment better.
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However, Shriram Life’s profit after tax more than halved to Rs 66 crore in FY25. Kromhout attributed the decline to ongoing investments in distribution, technology and product development. “Profit is not our focus right now. We are reinvesting earnings into building the organisation and expanding reach. That’s the phase we are in.”
He said the 45% growth in individual new business premiums was driven by these investments.
Renewal premiums across individual and group segments rose 18.4% YoY to Rs 1,939 crore in FY25. Kromhout said the growth in renewal premium is expected to exceed 20% this fiscal as the customer base has significantly expanded.
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