Net premium income grew 9% YoY to Rs 18,242 crore during the quarter, up from Rs 16,771 crore a year ago.
Individual new business momentum strengthened during the December quarter, with individual annualised premium equivalent growing 11% YoY, which is a healthy two-year CAGR of 17%. This helped the insurer gain 20 basis points of market share, taking its overall industry share for the first nine months of FY26 to 10.9%.
Growth was led by protection-focused products. Retail protection business surged 70% YoY in Q3, while growth for the nine-month period stood at 42%, significantly ahead of the broader industry.
This was reflected in the quality of business as well, with retail sum assured rising 55% in Q3 and 33% over 9MFY26, supported by higher rider attachment and increased sum assured multiples, particularly in ULIPs.
The Value of New Business (VNB) for nine months ending December period rose 7% YoY to Rs 2,773 crore, with margins largely stable at 24.4%, similar to the first half. The company said margins benefited from a better product mix but were partly offset by the impact of GST changes and labour code-related costs. Excluding these one-time factors, underlying PAT growth for both the quarter and the nine-month period stood at 15%.
For the nine months ended December, profit after tax increased 7% YoY to Rs 1,414 crore. Assets under management, including those of its wholly owned pension subsidiary, stood at Rs 5.3 lakh crore.Operational metrics remained stable. Renewal collections grew 15% YoY, while persistency ratios were broadly steady, with 13-month persistency at 85% and 61-month persistency at 63%. Embedded value stood at Rs 61,565 crore, with an operating return on embedded value of 15.6% on a rolling 12-month basis. The solvency ratio remained comfortable at 180%, supported by Rs 749 crore of subordinated debt raised during the third quarter.
Management said the pickup in momentum during Q3 was driven by policy reforms and improved affordability following GST exemptions, particularly in the protection segment. The company expects this trend to continue into the March quarter, supporting a balanced full-year performance.