SBI Life Insurance, a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, has posted a five percent growth in its net profit of Rs 428.17 crore in the first half (April-September period) of the current financial year.
The life insurer's profit was at Rs 407.98 crore in the same period of last financial year.
The company's new business premium grew 77 percent to Rs 4,644 crore during this period against Rs 2,626 crore reported a year earlier, it said in a release.
Similarly, the renewal premium also rose 26 percent to Rs 3,715 crore during April-September period as compared with Rs 2,946 crore reported in the corresponding period last fiscal.
SBI Life Insurance's operating expenses to gross written premium (GWP) also went down by 16 percent in the first half of FY17.
The assets under management (AUM) rose to Rs 87,784 crore as on September 30, 2016 as compared to Rs 74, 554 during the same period last year, the company added.
Earlier, SBI Life Insurance had said that the company would be the top private life insurer by 2017-2018.
According to a report by Kotak Institutional Securities, ICICI Prudential Life is the largest private life insurer in India with around 12 percent market share. After HDFC Life's announcement to merge with Max Life, it would be a tough fight between SBI Life Insurance and HDFC Life for the second slot.
Currently, the life insurance space in the country is dominated by state-run insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India with around 48 percent market share.
