ICICI Life H1 Profit Up 26% as Protection Sales Surge

ICICI Life Insurance, which was known as ICICI Prudential Life Insurance until earlier this year, announced its results for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2026 after its board approved them on October 13, 2026. This article reports the figures as published in coverage of the results by Free Press Journal and Kotak Neo and explains the terms used. Where the two sources report slightly different premium measures, the difference is noted, and growth rates marked as calculated here are derived from reported numbers.

Profit

Profit after tax for the first half of fiscal year 2026-27 was ₹760 crore, up 26.5% from the same period a year earlier. The Free Press Journal's reading of the statutory filing gives the figure as ₹760.40 crore, up 26.4% from ₹601.35 crore. One crore is ten million rupees, so the half-year profit is about 7.6 billion rupees.

For the September quarter alone, profit was ₹374.22 crore against ₹299.26 crore a year earlier, an increase of 25%. It was 3.1% lower than the ₹386.18 crore reported in the June quarter. Profit before tax was ₹435.32 crore, up 25.4% from ₹347.01 crore. Basic earnings per share were ₹2.58 against ₹2.07.

Premiums

Net premium income for the quarter was ₹13,803.90 crore, up 16.6% from ₹11,843.10 crore, and for the half year it was ₹23,553.23 crore, up 15.8%, according to the Free Press Journal. Kotak Neo reports total premiums of ₹24,505 crore for the half year, up 15.3%. The two figures differ because one is net of reinsurance and the other is a broader total premium measure, and both show growth of around 15% to 16%.

Annualised premium equivalent, usually shortened to APE, is the standard way life insurers compare sales across product types. It counts regular premiums at their full yearly amount and single premiums at a fraction, often one-tenth, of the amount paid. APE for the half year was ₹4,935 crore, up 15.1%. For the September quarter it was ₹2,799 crore, up 15.6%.

Value of new business and margin

Value of new business, or VNB, is an actuarial estimate of the value that policies sold in a period are expected to create for shareholders after allowing for the cost of capital. VNB for the half year was ₹1,283 crore, up 22.3%. The VNB margin, which divides VNB by APE, was 26%, up from 24.7% a year earlier. A rising margin means each rupee of sales is creating more estimated value. The figure of ₹1,283 crore divided by ₹4,935 crore gives 26.0%, which matches the reported margin, calculated here.

VNB depends on assumptions about interest rates, lapses and costs, so a change in margin can reflect product mix, assumptions, or both. The coverage does not describe any change in assumptions.

The protection shift

The most notable item is the growth in protection. Protection APE for the half year was ₹1,155 crore, up 39.5%, and retail protection APE was ₹455 crore, up 47.2%. In the second quarter alone, protection APE rose 51.5% and retail protection APE rose 36.5%. Protection policies, such as term life cover, pay out only if an insured event occurs and typically earn higher margins than savings products. By comparison, linked savings APE rose 11.8% in the quarter, non-linked savings APE rose 6.7%, and annuity APE fell 0.6%.

Protection made up about 23% of half-year APE, calculated here by dividing ₹1,155 crore by ₹4,935 crore. New business retail sum assured, the total amount of cover sold to individuals, was ₹2.32 lakh crore, up 34.9%. The shift in mix is the likely explanation for the margin gain, although the coverage does not state this directly.

Balance sheet, claims and persistency

Assets under management were ₹3.29 lakh crore at September 30, 2026. The solvency ratio, which compares available capital with the amount the regulator requires, was 229.9%, up from 213.2% a year earlier. The regulatory minimum in India is 150%. The 13th-month persistency ratio, which measures the share of policies still in force a year after they were sold, was 84.5%. The company reported a claim settlement ratio of 99.3%, which it described as its best for a first half, and said eligible non-investigated individual claims were settled in an average of 1.1 days. It also reported no non-performing assets since inception.

Costs and investment swings

Not every line improved. Expenses of management, the costs of running the business including commissions, were ₹2,654.17 crore in the quarter, up 23.3%, which is faster than the 16.6% growth in net premium income. Faster cost growth than premium growth squeezes profit unless it is offset elsewhere. In addition, policyholders' net investment income was negative ₹2,123.29 crore, against a negative ₹226.67 crore a year earlier. That line likely reflects market movements on investments held for policyholders in unit-linked products, where the investment risk is borne by customers, so it does not translate directly into a loss for the company, but it does affect reported income and the premium totals investors see.

The Free Press Journal notes that the results were unaudited. Shares of the company closed at ₹447 on October 13, down 3.5% on the day, according to Kotak Neo.

How to read the results

Taken together, the figures describe a business that is growing sales at around 15%, growing the value of those sales faster than that, and building a stronger capital cushion. The main points to watch are whether protection can keep growing at current rates, whether costs continue to outpace premiums, and whether the margin of 26% can hold if the mix of products changes. Investors usually combine VNB, APE, solvency and persistency when judging a life insurer, because profit in any one quarter can be distorted by market movements and accounting rules.

Sources: Free Press Journal and Kotak Neo coverage of ICICI Life Insurance's September-quarter and half-year FY27 results, approved by the board on October 13, 2026. The results are unaudited. Growth rates labelled as calculated here are derived from the reported figures.