SBI Life Q1 FY27: net profit up 22% YoY to ₹725 Cr; new business premium +23%

SBI Life Insurance reported standalone Q1 FY27 (quarter ended June 30, 2026) net profit of ₹724.93 Cr, up 22.0% YoY from ₹594.37 Cr, on shareholders'-account income of ₹739.52 Cr (+20.4% YoY). The 9.9% sequential dip from Q4 FY26's ₹804.64 Cr is a seasonality artifact — Q4 is structurally the strongest quarter for life insurers as the surplus transferred from the policyholders' account peaks — not a slowdown; on the YoY lens that matters, this is clean double-digit growth. EPS rose to ₹7.23 from ₹5.93. The results are unaudited but limited-reviewed with an unmodified opinion by joint auditors K S Aiyar & Co. and J Singh & Associates; consolidated figures are not applicable as the company has no subsidiaries. The profit rode a strong topline. Gross written premium grew 19.5% YoY to ₹21,289.65 Cr and net premium 16.9% to ₹20,078.21 Cr, with new business premium (first-year plus single) up 22.6% to ₹8,907.86 Cr — first-year premium alone jumped ~40%. Embedded value stood at ₹85,290 Cr as at 30 June 2026 with value of new business of ₹1,410 Cr for the quarter (independently reviewed by WTW); the VNB margin, reported around 28-29%, sits within-to-above management's 26-28% guide. There were no exceptional or one-off items on either side, so the ~22% reported growth is also the underlying growth. The print tracks management's FY27 outlook from the Q4 concall — ~14% APE growth with VNB margins held at 26-28% through a richer non-ULIP/protection mix — and Q1 new-business momentum runs comfortably ahead of that pace, though APE itself is not disclosed in this quarterly statement. No reliable street consensus for the quarter was available, and management gives no formal profit guidance. Balance-sheet strength is intact: solvency 1.96x (above the 1.50x regulatory floor and up from 1.90x in March) and 13th-month persistency steady at 84.35% on a premium basis (84.24% a year ago). Concurrent corporate actions this quarter — an 8.94-lakh ESOP grant and the 26th AGM slated for August 14, 2026 — are routine. The one structural watch item is the Sahara (SILIC) portfolio: per IRDAI/SAT orders the company maintains separate SILIC books through FY 2026-27, with SILIC's closing balance and transactions to fold into SBI Life's financials from April 1, 2027 (FY 2027-28).