Life Insurance Corporation Of India (LICI) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the LIC's FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and then zero on your touch-down phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have Senior Management of LIC led by Mr. R. Durayaswamy, CEO and MD, on this call. I now hand the conference over to Mr. R. Durayaswamy, CEO and MD, LIC. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Durayaswamy.

Mr. Durayaswamy, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of LIC. I would like to welcome all of you to the results and performance update for the year ended March 31, 2026. I also extend my gratitude to you for joining this call in the later hours of the evening today. Our results declared today have been uploaded along with the press release and the investment presentation on our website, as well as the websites of both the exchanges, BSE and NSE. Along with me, on this call, I have the Managing Directors, Shri Dinesh Pant, Shri Ratna Kapatnaik, Shri Chandar. Senior Officials of the Corporation President on this call are, Shri A.K. Srivastav, Appointed Actuary and Expo Director Actuarial from the Actuarial Team. Shri Sunil Agarwal, CFO from the Finance Team. Shri Arindam Das Gupta, Expo Director Investment Front Office and CIO from the Investment Team. From the marketing team, we have Mr. Utuk Joseph, Exeo Director, Marketing, Product Development, Mr. Hemant Butch, Exeo Director, Marketing, Bank Asher and Alternate Channel, Mr. K. Sesha Giridhar, Exeo Director, Pension and Root Schemes. Also, we have Ms. Shobha Suloshana, Exeo Director, CRM Policy Servicing, Ms. Pandana Sinha, Exeo Director, CRM Claims and Agnities, and Shri Sanjay Bajaj, Head Industrial Relations on this call. I would now like to present the key business, operational, and financial performance highlights for the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2026. Market share. Our market share by first year premium income for the year ending 31st March 2026 is 56.66% as per IRDI as compared to 57.05% for the similar period ended 31st March 2025. Therefore, we continue to maintain our leadership in the Indian insurance market across both individual and group business segments. Now, if we break down this overall insurance market share of 56.66% into segment-wise shares of the individual and group business, we would have a market share of 36.6% in individual business and 70.11% in the group business for the year ending 31st March 2026. On a comparable basis, for the year-ending 31st March 2025, the respective market shares for individual and group business were 37.46% and 71.19% respectively. Thank you. Renewal premium income for the year ended 31 March 2026 was Rs. 67,676 crore as compared to Rs. 62,495 crore for the similar period ended 31 March 2025, thereby registering an increase of 8.29% on a year-on-year basis. Renewal premium income of individual business for the year ended 31 March 2026 was Rs. 2,71,699 crore as compared to Rs. 2,56,541 crore for the year ended March 31st, 2025, registering a growth of 5.91% on year-on-year basis. Therefore, for the year-ended 31st March 2026, our total individual premium income, including renewals, was 3,39,375 crore rupees as compared to 3,19,036 crore rupees for the previous year, registering a growth of 6.37% on a year-on-year basis. The group business total premium income for the year ended 31 March 26 was 1,096,609 crore rupees, comprising new business premium of 1,092,912 crore rupees. In comparison, for the year ended 31 March 25, the group business total premium income was 1,069,112 crore rupees, comprised new business premium income of 1,064,262 crore rupees. Therefore, for the year ending 31st March 26, the total group premium has increased by 16.26% as compared to previous year ending 31st March 25. Number 5. The breakup of business on APE basis. The total annualized premium equivalent for the year ended 31st March 2026 is 66,961 crore rupees, which comprise individual APE of 43,335 crore rupees and group APE of 23,626 crore rupees. Therefore, on an APE basis, the individual business accounts for 64.72% and group business accounts for 35.28%. Further, of the individual APE, the PAR business accounts for 28,121 crore rupees and non-PAR amounts to 15,214 crore rupees. Therefore, our non-PAR share of individual APE is 35.11% and PAR is 64.89% for the year 31st March 26th. As you may recall, for the year 31st March 2025, our non-PAR share of total individual business based on APE stood at 27.69%. Since then, our non-PAR APE has increased from 10,581 crore rupees to 15,214 crore rupees, Reflecting an increase of 43.78% on a year-on-year basis. At this point, I would like to take you back to our nine-month results for a period under 31st December 2025, when our comparable non-PAR APE share within individual business was 36.46%. We had mentioned then that our effort would be to consolidate our non-PAR gains for some time and the full year numbers visible now are a testimony of that consolidation. Profit after tax. The patch for the year ended 31st March 26th was 57,419 crore rupees as compared to 48,151 crore rupees for the last year, registering a growth of 19.25% on a year-on-year basis. VNB and VNB margins. The net VNB has registered a growth of 41.60% on a year-on-year basis to 14,179 crore rupees for the year-ended 31 March 2026 from 10,011 crore rupees for the previous year. We are quite happy with the rapid gains in VNB growth given that it was only last year that we became the first life insurance company in India to cross the 10,000 crore rupees mark in VNB. Further, the net BNP margin has improved by 360 basis points on a year-on-year basis to 21.2% for the year-ended 31st March 26, from 17.6% for the previous year. The solvency ratio as on 31st March 2026 improved to 2.35 as against 2.11 on March 31st, 2025. 5. The Indian Embedded Value. The Indian Embedded Value as on 31st March 2026 has been determined as 7,89,185 crore rupees as compared to 7,76,876 crore rupees as on 31st March 2025. Therefore, the IEV has registered an increase of 1.58% on a year-on-year basis. The asset center management as on 31st March 2026 was 57,29,396 crore rupees as compared to 54,52,297 crore rupees as on 31st March 2025. Therefore, our AUM has registered a growth of 5.08% on a year-on-year basis. Product mix and new product launches. As on 31st March 2026, we had a comprehensive suite of 58 products, excluding the Pradhan Mantri Jivanjyoti Bhima Yojana, available for new business, including 36 exclusive individual products, 13 exclusive group products, and one common product, which is eligible for group as well as individual business. In addition, we have seven individual riders and one group rider. Post 31st March 2026, we have withdrawn one product, namely LIC's Narjeevanshree Single Premium. The number of policies sold. During the year ended 31st March 2026, we sold 1 crore 84 lakhs 41,175 new policies as compared to 1 crore 77 lakhs 82,975 new policies in the previous year, registering a growth of 3.7% on a year-on-year basis. The Agency Workforce. As on 31st March 2026, the total number of individual agents was 14,57,045 as compared to 14,86,851 as on 31st March 25. The market share by number of agents as on 31st March 26 stands at 44.25% as against 47.61% for March 31st, 2025. On number of policies sold basis, the agency force sold 1 crore 81,49,660 policies during the year-ended 31st March 26 as compared to 1 crore 73,58,723 policies during the corresponding period of last year. Further, 98.42% of our policies in the year-ended March 31st, 2026 were sold by our agency. When seen on freemium basis, 91.75% of the new business freemium came from our agency channel in the financial year-ending of 2025-26. By Banka and Alternate Channels. Our Banka and Alternate Channels growth has been a continuous story of increasing volumes and larger interest rate market share within our channel mix. Bank Assurance and Alternate Channels collected a new business premium income of 5,076 crore rupees for the year 31st March 2026 as compared to 3,496.10 crores for the previous year, registering a growth of 45.19% on a year-on-year basis. The new business premium income collected through banks was 3,151.33 crore for the year ended 31 March 26, and for the corresponding period last year, it was 2,576.74 crore, thereby registering a growth of 22.30% on a year-on-year basis. Further, the alternate channels collected new business premium of Rs. 1924.74 crore for the year as compared to 919.36 crore for the year ended 31 March 25, registering a growth of around 9.36% on a year-on-year basis. The share of individual new business premium from our bank assurance and alternate channels has risen significantly to 7.51% in FY26, marking a notable improvement over the 5.59% achieved in FY25. Why? Before I move on to other areas, I would like to say that for long, since our listing, we have quietly harbored an ambition to cross a level of 5,000 crore through Banker and Ash alternate channel, and this financial year, we achieved the same, and we are very happy about it. Our overall expense ratio. For the year-ended 31st March 2026, the overall expense ratio was 11.91% as compared to 12.42% for the last year. Therefore, there is a decrease of 51 basis points in our overall expense ratio on a year-on-year basis. Persistency. On premium basis, the persistency for 13th, 25th, 37th, 49th, and 61st month up to 31st March 2026 stands at 74.64%, 68.98%, 66.94%, 63.03%, and 59.31% respectively, as compared to 74.84%, 70.99%, On number of policies basis, the persistency for 13th, 25th, 37th, 49th, and 61st month up to the year-ended 31st March 26 stands at Our persistency metrics reflect Continued strength with improvement on a premium basis in the 37th and 49th months and enhanced performance on a policy basis on the 13th, 37th, and 49th months. We are also focusing our energies on improvement across certain cohorts where we have seen a drop. Operational efficiency and digital progress. In our digital initiative, through the agent-assisted Ananda app, we have completed 23,983 policies during the year-ended 31st March 2026 as compared to 14,074,208 policies on the year-ended 31st March 2025, thereby registering a growth of 56.08% on a year-on-year basis. There is a growth of 29.56% in the number of active agents in Ananda app for the year 13th March 26th. The Digital Innovation Value Enhancement Initiative, DIVE. The DIVE project is being rolled out in phases, both for customers and distributors. Many features and facilities have been activated and many more will be launched in a phased manner. We have launched the new LIC customer app, titled MyLIC, and the mobile app for the sales intermediaries, titled LIC Superhousity. On the 15th of April, 2026, MyLIC is a next-generation mobile application built to redefine the experience of how policyholders will manage their life insurance portfolio. Super Sales Sathi app is a next-generation mobile application for LIC's marketing personnel. We hope the people logged into this call and those who will be hearing this recording later will be able to experience firsthand our digital transformation, and please do share your feedback with us on mail or even through our investor relations team who is continuously engaged with you. Claims. On individual claims front, during the year ended 31 March 26, we have processed 2,49,56,342 number of claims, which includes 2,41,25,943 maturity and survival-based claims. On an amount basis, during the year ended 31st March 2026, the total maturity claims were 2,79,951 crore rupees and the total death claims were 24,885 crore rupees. On a comparable basis, for the financial year ended March 31, 2025, the maturity claims were ₹237,313 crore and death claims were ₹24,420 crore. Therefore, the maturity claims are higher by 17.97% and the death claims are higher by 1.91% on a year-on-year basis. The marketing initiative update on Bhima Sakhi Yojana. As of 31st March 2026, a total of 3,45,000 women have been designated as Bhima Sakhi, successfully selling 21.94 lakh insurance policies and generating a new business premium income of 2,848 crore rupees in the year ended 31st March 2026. Our objective is to appoint at least one Bhimasakhi in every gram panchayat, and we would like to inform that out of 2,44,876 gram panchayat, we have covered 59% gram panchayat by recruiting Bhimasakhi in 1,43,924 panchayat up to 31st March 2026. Before concluding, I would like to reiterate significant highlights of our performance. Our non-par share of individual AP business has now consistently settled at about 35% sequentially over the last three results performance updates. Our profit after tax has grown by 19.25% to 57,419 pro rupees on a year-on-year basis. This is the highest path in our history. Back insurance and order rate channel registered a growth of 45.19% on a year-on-year basis to 5,076.07 crore rupees. This is the first time we have crossed 5,000 crore premium in BNAP channel. VNB has increased by 41.63% on a year-on-year basis for FI26. This is our highest VNB till now. VNP margin has increased by 360 basis points to 21.2% for F826. This is our highest VNP margin till now. IEV has increased by 12,309 crores to 7,89,185 crores as on 31st March 26, registering a growth of 1.58% on a year-on-year basis. While maintaining growth in multiple parameters, we have kept a focus on costs, And as you can see, the overall expense ratio is down by 51 basis points to 11.91% in F526. This is the lowest overall expense ratio for us till now since listing. I would like to share that the Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of 10 rupees per equity share of 10 rupees each, equivalent to 20 rupees per equity share pre-bonus issue basis, for the financial year 2025-26, subject to approval of shareholders in the 5th Annual General Meeting of the Corporation. When we now look back at our four-year journey post-listing in May 2022, we feel happy that we have delivered more than what was told to the shareholder at the time of listing as our three-to-five-year ambition with regard to product mix, channel mix, and margins. We are now very confident that having achieved significant directional changes, we are on a path of superior growth with sharper focus on enhanced performance parameters. We extend our sincere gratitude to all our stakeholders for their complete support and faith in us, and we executed the defined strategy. With that, I now hand over to the moderator to open the floor for question and answer session. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then 1 on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and then 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Dearies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Your first question comes from the line of Swarnab Mukherjee with 361 Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity and congrats on a good set of numbers. Three questions from my side. First of all, on the individual savings business on the non-par side, so there was a very strong show this quarter. I just wanted to understand that this significant growth that has come through this quarter vis-à-vis, say, what we saw in 3Q also and vis-à-vis, say, fourth quarter last year, What products would have led to this growth, and how much of this we can think to, you know, continue in the similar momentum going ahead in FY27? That is the first question. Second is, in terms of the operating assumption changes that you have mentioned in EV and V&B walk, If you could give some color on that, what are the changes that you are seeing, as well as in the V&D walk, the economic assumption changes, if you could highlight what is playing out there in this particular quarter, because I think in nine months, that number was, if I remember correctly, was a negative number. So, if you could highlight that. And lastly, sir, if you could give some color on, you know, how, of this margin that has been reported in the fourth quarter, what would be the trend for the individual business, how the margin would be?

Mr. Uthup Jaisaf, exit and marketing will take the first question. Other two.

Thank you. As far as the savings products are concerned, the question which you have asked, which product has contributed maximum towards this growth? Actually, we have shown a growth of almost 48.40% as far as the savings bucket is concerned. The product which has contributed best is Jeevan Utsav, which has given us a very good percentage as far as the savings bucket is concerned. And this product is having a good ticket size also, which has actually helped us in ensuring that this savings product is actually bringing a lot of premium to us. Then, as far as the savings product is concerned, on the part side, Jeevan Lab also has performed very well, which has contributed to almost 40% of the premium as far as that segment is concerned. So these two products, I can say that they have done the best performance as far as the savings is done.

Our appointed actress Ajayashi Vastar will take the EVVNB walk and March,

about VNB walk. As at 31st March 2025, the VNB margin was 17.6%. As we have already spoken about the mix of business and a very strong growth in the non-PAR business as compared to PAR, the growth is on all lines of business except for the NVT, but then there is a strong growth in non-PAR segment. And therefore, the proportion of non-par business to the total business has gone up. So, this business mix, which has gone up, has contributed to 3% to the BNB margin. Then the RFR, throughout some months, it has got over 84 basis points or so. So this RFR has contributed to 3.4%. And with regard to this operating assumptions, as you asked, this is mainly because, you know, some based on experience and for the persistency.

So, if you could also explain the same for EVWOC in terms of the operating assumption changes and the variance.

Starting this thing as of March 2025, the figures were 776-876. So, unwind is contributing to the extent of 74748.

So, just one quick follow-up. In terms of persistency, like if I look at the persistency data that you have provided, we see that there is an improvement in terms of premium. This is slight improvement, while in terms of, sorry, improvement in terms of number of policies, this is, but while in terms of premium, this is, there is a minor drop. I just wanted to understand, I think last year you had highlighted that the strategy was to reduce lower ticket size products. So how this is playing out, despite you having, you know, now, vis-a-vis last year, a larger, maybe an average ticket size, and how does that, reflecting in that positive persistence If

you look at it, the focus has been to increase the ticket size. At the same time, we are also looking at increasing the overall number of sales, because we are also focusing on contributing towards the vision of Insurance for Allway 2047. The effect of increased ticket size over the persistency will only be seen in the years to come. The minimum summer shoot has been increased in 2024, October, as part of our alignment to the new Marshall Circle, which has released, and the effect of that will be seen over a period of time. We are sure that the persistency will improve across cohorts. What happens some year, the product mix difference and the kind of policies sold during COVID and other things have also resulted in a five-year, that is, 61-month persistency being lower. But we will be looking at increasing it across all the cohorts in the days to come. Certainly, the increase in ticket size is going to help us in achieving this.

Okay, sir, understood. Just if you could address the last question on some color on the individual business margin profile.

So, we have given you a VNB margin, which has gone up as compared to March 2027. If you look at in different components, at the par 2% of the APE is contributing to the extent of 28% of VNB margin, Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much, sir, and all the best for FY27.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Nishin Chawate with KOTAC Institute of Equities. Please go ahead.

Thank you, sir. Just moving to one, I just want a clarification. What you mentioned is, par business is contributing to around 28% of V&B. Individual non-par is 53% and group is 19%. Is my understanding right?

Sorry to interrupt. Anishin, sir, your voice is breaking up in between. Your line is not clear.

Better now?

No? Yes. Yes. Please go ahead, sir.

Yeah, is this better now? Hello?

Yes, sir, this is better.

Yeah, yeah, sure. So, I'm just saying that, you know, of the economic assumption change and variance of 72,000 crores, I think you just shared a breakup between equity and debt. Can you just repeat that now?

Equity is 53,698, and the debt is 46,823.

Okay, okay, okay, as a percentage, got it. Now, just a couple of things. You know, if I look at the P&L statement, Your credit debit fair value change is almost like one and a half lakh crores decline. Now, I was just curious, I mean, you know, your equity market book has not corrected or not gone down as much. I think even now, you know, the equity benchmark indices have also not come off so much. So why is the, you know, the debit fair value change so high?

There are two components to it. One is the realization of the sum portion definities related to the market.

But equity markets, I mean, if I look at the benchmark, you know, NSE 500, et cetera, was almost flat, right? So there should not be almost like a 1.5 lakh crore decline. You have equity investment book of 15 lakh crore. So it's a fairly sharp decline.

Got it.

The other thing is, you know, on this accounting policy change, where you said that accounting of debt investments, This is now going to be, you know, the amortization of discount versus, you know, the capital gains policy that was booked earlier. So you mentioned a number of around 11,000-odd crores. Now, is this the net impact or is this the, you know, is this the discounting or the gross component?

So this is a gross component. Like, as if you would have accounted this year on year, this amount would have been recognized. So this is a one-time correction that has happened for the past, that were made in the past.

Sorry, this won't be one-time, right? This is amortized. So, this into the duration of the book will be...

Whenever those securities are bought, from that point of time, I would have recognized the amortization regularly. This would have been the impact of the overall investment that I hold as a 31st of March, 2020.

That's right. So, what is the duration of your bond book?

In what form you are asking?

No, I'm just saying that, I mean, the way I would look at it is that this 11,000 crores into the duration of the bond book kind of reflects the unrealized gains that you're sitting on the, you know, on the bond portfolio. Is that a fair reading? Sure. And I'm just curious if the policy was not changed, what would be the net impact on the surplus or PBT?

The majority of the portion is going into the participating, because the majority of the securities are held in the participating line of business. So, out of this 11,000, roughly about 9,000 odd crore is the impact in the participating, which does not impact the fact at all, directly.

Okay, but I think the notes to account say that this is essentially the non-par, the non-linked part of the book. Non-linked, non-linked, non-linked, okay, okay, okay, got it. So, it doesn't really impact the P&L. Sure. And I think just last, if I can squeeze, you know, your dividend policy, you have increased the payout, you know, which is a good thing. I'm just curious, how should we think about the payout ratio going forward?

See, the payout ratio will depend on how the regulatory changes also happen. So, we have to be a bit cautious in releasing it, because there are some expected regulatory changes, particularly in respect of the risk-based capital being planned to be introduced. We are not sure when it is going to be introduced. So, we need to build some reserves so that we remain at a comfortable level of solvency throughout. That is one thing which you have to keep in mind. So, we have now released what we think, what our board felt is a rightful amount to be released immediately as a matter of our paying back to the shareholders. Before that, we have done that bonus issue. So, bonus issue followed by an increased dividend is what we have done this year. We expect it to be sustained in the years in the future also. That also has been kept in mind before the board decided the amount of dividend to be declared.

Got it. You mean the payout ratio, right? Got it, got it. Thank you very much. Those were my questions, and all the best.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Madhukar from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good evening. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. Most of your questions have been answered. So, this, just, I, the line was a little unclear. There's change in operating assumptions. Most of your operating assumptions are actually yielding positive variances. So, what is this? Apart from GST, what is contributing to negative changes of here?

Operating experience on three counts, that is persistency, mortality, and expenses.

Yeah, but I, then why is your operating assumption change negative? From GST, GST would be one negative, then?

Yeah. It's only GST. It's GST, and some lines of business, as I said, expenses have been adjusted to the current US experience. The consistency for some lines of business, where it has come down, there, I think, that adjustment for that particular line of business, because, you know, the last session has gone up. So, that has been accounted for in the next variety.

Another question I had is your persistency positive variance is quite large. Now, is there any sort of one-time element in it, any particular policy type which is contributing to this? Because on a premium basis, there is some sort of negative persistency that we observed, right, in the disclosures.

As we had the sessions earlier as well, in 2024, we had, you know, the ticket size were increased for most of the policies. Now, there, the full experience is yet to unfold. So, we need to see where, how, how, going forward that unfolds. But before that, it has to be, you know, line of business wise, and it has gone up for some line of business.

Understood, sir. That's it from my side.

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Avinash Singh from MK Global. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. I'm great set of numbers. My question again is around capital and dividend policy. So if we look in terms of the current solvency regime, A 235% now, yes, solvency ratio. That's, I would say, strongest in the sector. And of course, it has been rising. Now, when it comes to dividends, of course, your dividend payout ratios are at a different level. However, I mean, given this kind of a capital glut and solvency accumulation, I would expect it to be even higher. But you seem to be a bit or reasonably more cautious around risk-based capital, whereas if we see some of your, I mean, the private sector peers, they have kind of a hoax of, you know, risk-based solvency leading to some sort of a release in capital or you can say that less capitalist trade. Now, what is the reason behind your process? What is driving that, okay, you are fearing that there could be kind of an increased capital requirement once you transition to resolventy? I mean, what is this apprehension about capital?

See, actually, it is not because of any fear. Every insurance company has to decide, and when we declare results, now you would appreciate significantly higher risk. One side that leads to something like 8.92, the significant factor which will impact the risk. As of now, ideally, we are concerned, we are in continuous discussion, and we have submitted our points of it. We are, as a prudent situation, which we are showing of that thing, we have taken factors which we have taken for determining sensitivity because risk-based capital is going to be dependent upon the factors which are applied to different, you know, parameters. You know, we also want to ensure that we have to continuously grow, profitable to us. In fact, some of the products which are most profitable to us, non-power, as is expected in the initial stages, consume capital. So, while we want to, you know, be prudent and on the high-solvency side, we also want to grow. The growth aspirations are there. And we would like this capital to be consumed for the growth purposes also. So, already LIC is delivering on shifting of business profile as well as consolidating of solvency and being aware about the likely out-capital for any reasons. Fractation, finality to the dividend policy will exist.

Yeah, thanks. One follow-up, one, sorry, another question. Regarding your margins, so GST came as sort of, of course, one of this year. Now, that has gone even 2% of margins. If I remove that, the margins are 23%. Now, next year, when I see the two benefits that you have derived this year, product mix changes, and also the economic changes, probably the movement in terms of shape and the absolute level, would probably not be there. And also, you will have to respond to this rising yield by offering probably higher IRR. But nevertheless, in a kind of a stable product mix and these economic adjustments, is it fair to assume that, okay, the margins will be looking more closer to 23% next year?

I think we would not like to guess into it. The beauty of a diversified product like the market and the pyramid is something for the next three years. We have to work up more in the direction. And if you could see the margins in the last quarter was significantly higher than for the overall year. But we would like to see, this is the beauty of the, you know, balanced portfolio. For example, we have got large annuity, book size, we have got ULIP, we have got, you know, non-part business. What we expect will continue to change and evolve and different things. For example, nobody perhaps was expecting interest rates to go up, right? Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Dipanjan Ghosh with Switi. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good evening, everyone. So, first, a few questions from my side. Firstly, if you look at your EV work, this is almost the second or fourth year, where you have been sustainably reporting a positive other variant, which is XR, persistency, expense, and mortality. I just wanted to get some color on what exactly gets factored in this line item and how should really one think of it going ahead. My second question is on the persistency side. Now, what you're seeing in persistency are three trends. I mean, you know, on a previous basis, we have seen some softness on the 13th, in the 25th month. But you have also strengthened your assumptions on persistency. But on the flip side, we're also seeing positive releases from the back book in the EV world. Now, it would be great if you can kind of bifurcate this performance and persistency across the three major product classes, which is on the individual side, par, non-par, and linked business, both on the back book and on the strengthening that you have done, and on the yearly performance that you have seen on a YOY basis. The third question was on the P&S, and two questions rather on this part. One is, if you can give some color on why the operating expenses were high in the fourth quarter, and also in terms of benefit payouts, was there any lump sum group payout in the fourth quarter?

I'll take the last question first. There is no lump sum group payouts that happened in the last quarter or anything like that. We had some, what do you call, assured benefit, individual policies, which were sold in big numbers 25 years back, which policies are maturing now. One cohort of policies called Gementry, and we expect the number of policies that mature in the last year, already mentioned in the last year also, in 2025, 2026, and 2027, are expected to be significantly high. And all those are with a high summer shoot also. High tickets are sold in those years. So, there is a good amount of maturity claims that are going to happen. That happened in the last quarter as well as it will continue to happen until January of 2027. So, we are well planned and working towards that. So, that is one reason why the outgo on the number of policies and particularly the benefit payouts were more on the last quarter. On the EV and VNB margin, I would like to ask my operator actually a shareholder reporting actually to answer.

Correctly understand the question that goes on persistency and, you know, the persistency operating variance on persistency, which has given a big positive of 3509. I think that's the question on that. You want further bifurcation? Is that the question?

So, basically, I'm trying to understand that if I break up the persistency variance and also the strengthening that you have done in the assumption changes on persistency across the three major product cohorts, which is par, non-par, and linked, I mean, if I were to look at it like some of parts of the three products, then how have each of the product segments behaved?

In fact, as I mentioned earlier, in group line of business, because there is some persistency which has, for some line of business, it has come down. So, there, that persistency assumption was strengthened, and simultaneously in that area, whatever was assumed on account of persistency, the actual experience was a little different from that. So, for group line of business, therefore, it was strengthened. For PAH, it was 13 months of experience of the PAH.

And good thing is with the changes which have happened in the previous few years, when the assumptions are set, it is expected that, you know, we have to first actually believe that it is going to change. The resultant largely coming from PAH is for all these changes which have happened in the last, you know, since size has improved, The nature of business has improved, not across the entire portfolio, but for particular policies, which are, you know, which are beneficial to us. Because of that, the large contribution has come. Actually, in almost all lines of business, it has been positive contribution has come on to that number 3509, largely coming from participating and group business, and small amount coming from non-participating business also. Because the chunk of business is there, largely.

If I can just, if you can take the question on the other variances, which has been reporting a positive number for some time now.

On which operational variance?

In the operating variance, you divided into four buckets, right? Persistency, mortality, expense, and others.

Yeah, so expenses claim that has contributed positively as an experience is better than what was assumed. The persistency also has contributed as we see that mortality is almost flat. So, there's no big variance on account of mortality and morbidity. So, these are the three areas on which this has been treated 3509 as we said. The expense also it is a positive.

And if you're talking about the bracket of the others, there's not much difference as compared to the last year. That is coming for some counts of cost of residual non-hensible risk, you know, and then frictional cost of capital, and slight model changes and reserve differences which are there. So it's about, you know, slight changes compared to the last year is there. So largely as...

Thank you and all the best.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Mohit Mangal from SENTEM. Please go ahead.

So, I've got three questions. First is, I wanted to look at financial year 27. Do you think they need to... Is this better, sir? So, my first question was on non-par pricing. So, I just wanted to know, have you done any revisions to the IRR over the last 12 months? And secondly, if I look at financial year 27, do you intend to increase any offering rate in the non-par category? My second question was in terms of the agency count. So I was looking at your agency count at the end of financial year 25. We were about 1.48 million. And now we are at about 1.45 million at the end of March 2026. So there has been kind of a reduction. And obviously, our market share has also kind of come down in terms of number of agents. So how should we see that, you know, going forward? And lastly, in terms of the number of policies sold. So, if I look at individual policies sold, they have gone up by 4%. But if I look at the policies sold, the bank assurance and alternate channels have declined by a very strong 36%. So, I just wanted to know the reasons for that.

You know, on the first question of the IRRs you just mentioned about, the IRR is a factor which depends upon the available investment opportunities, We will continue to watch and see whether there is a possibility of emerging possibilities particularly in the non-participating portfolio. How much of the risk can be held? Because for very long duration, so all these constraints and opportunities have to be balanced. And that is the reason, depending on the investment opportunities, possibly suppose the investment goes up in a particular year, does not mean that it is going to be ensured for 15, 20 years of the life of the policy. So, we have to take a very conscious call, particularly in case of the non-par product where everything is guaranteed, and as the B&B margins go upwards, they can move in the different direction if proper calls are not taken. So, that is an important area, and definitely we believe that the starting point for the business growth and for the…

You rightly pointed out that there is a small reduction in the number of agents to the tune of around 30,000, coming to around a negative variation of 2%, but let me tell you that over so many years, if you look at even the increase or decrease as far as our net agency addition or deletion is concerned, it has never affected us. In the current year, we will be looking at better recruitment as well as we will be having a lot of initiatives to ensure that the productivity is going up. So the total focus will be on that to ensure that this is taken care of. And also we will be taking as well as ensuring that the existing agents are present.

Just two more things I would like to add. Training will be a focus for the new agents as well as existing agents. Second will be young generation, new agents, younger age group agents who are going to rope in in more numbers, so that they are with us for quite some time and they will address the requirements of the millennials.

This is very helpful. Thanks. And wish you all the best.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just two more questioners. Our next question comes from the line of Suprateem Datta with Jeffries. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. You know, my two questions are, one, you know, on the VNB margin, you indicated that, you know, expect VNB margins to continue to expand. I just wanted to understand, you know, what would be the building blocks there, given you are saying that, you know, the non-par mix should now consolidate here. And if the LIL curve does not steepen further, then economic benefit, you know, that you've got this year may not recur. You know, then, you know, how do you see the margin expansion from here playing up? So, if you could, you know, help me understand this a bit better, it would be helpful. And, you know, my second question is, you know, we are, you know, moving towards IFRS, you indicated on the call about risk-based capital framework as well. From the IFRS, if you could help us understand, you know, how would the move from IZAP to IFRS result in, you know, the wish, you know, how should we look at the wish translating into the CSM in force? If you could give us some color on how to think about that, that would be helpful.

Before I ask my Appointed Actuality to give you more details, the focus would be on increasing the ticket size. The product mix that we are selling, though the mix may not increase too much, we would like it to consolidate or whatever it is. Two aspects, one, the ticket size of the policy is going up, and two, improvement in persistency are the ones which should be the drivers for margin expansion further. The opponent actually can throw further light on.

Yeah, with regard to implementation of NDIS, a certain exercise we have already carried out, a couple of reports we have already submitted it to the regulator. We are further working on these things, but there are many works which have to go on before we can have a view on how the margins are going to be moving, going forward.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Shovit Sharma from HDFC Securities Limited. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a great set of numbers. So I have only one question, which is on your product mix. So if we look at the power business, which was not growing in the first half of the year or last year, second half, that business has picked up the momentum. And if I look at the non-power guaranteed business, that is now contributing to close to a low-teens kind of a business mix. And in H2, if I look at that, is in high-teens. So, if you can give us some color around what kind of product mix are we aspiring for, should we see more gradual shifts towards the non-par guaranteed piece of business rather than the ULIP business which we have seen historically. So, yeah, this is my question.

It's a bit difficult, but there is a opportunity for people to invest and there is a good amount of interest that is being shown. ULIPs also get a good amount of welcome and so ULIPs also show growth. We would naturally like to increase our contribution from guaranteed business for savings and the market in full in terms of annuity business that is possible. So it has to be a growth in all the engines, but only thing is ensuring that the margins are kept in mind. We have to fulfill our responsibility towards ensuring insurance for all by 2047 or expanding the coverage as well as penetration in the market. We need to have a focus on the bottom-up pyramid as well. So that is one reason why we have a good number of policies sold on the micro-insurance as well as on small summer shoots also to cater to the needs of every segment of the society. They, in turn, result sometimes in lesser persistency rates as well as in terms of margins getting affected. But when we are focusing on a mix which will have a good number of policies with high-ticket sales on the non-parg savings and protection, We expect the margins to be taken well care of. Anything else you would like to add?

To increase and go towards the segment where the markets needed it for their needs, and this helped us improve the margins. In between, we have seen the journey, even certain non-participating products, because the interest rates coming down, had a challenge on the margins also. So margin, we are not saying that we are focusing only on increase in margins. We actually reach 21%. This journey possibly can be very gradual and slow from here because we have seen even for the industry, the margins have been around, you know, between 20s to maximum 30s for a very short period. So sometimes this becomes challenging. Margin can be improved by offering very few policies of high ticket size only. But then we have a responsibility to ensure this insurance for all by 2047 and contribute towards a larger cost. So therefore, this will have to ensure that we offer products. The question that you asked about the agency coming down is also because of the focus on the quality of the agency force and the productivity to continue to happen. Now, here onwards, situation, but almost, we are not looking for any major significant changes from here, but largely looking to consolidate from this position so that the BNB growth should happen. So, either it should come through improved margins or either it should come through improved business growth. We are happy with either situation as long as the BNB growth.

Got it. So, just a small follow-up. So, this is related to current situation which we are in. So, last two months, we have seen market being very choppy. So, how have you seen the ULIP demand or we have seen the non-part demand, guaranteed product demand being sustaining?

It is too early to comment. Perhaps the effect of the crisis has not completely been percolated, but as of now, what we are seeing in the month of April, our performance has been good. It has been in tune with what we are doing in the previous financial era, and it has been better than that as well. We are still now, we are finding that our trajectory in terms of growth in volume has been there. It spans across all, both participating as well as non-participating. We are seeing a good growth in terms of both the number of sales as well as the premium that is being accumulated, particularly the April figures having testimony to that.

Okay, sir. Thank you and wish you all the best.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Dorayaswamy for closing comments.

Thank you. To begin with, I sincerely thank you for joining us this evening for LIC's performance review for the Financial Year 26. Thanks for your continued faith and trust in us. You are very focused and sharp questions on a continuous basis. Keeps us on our toes, and we are able to dynamically adjust our business strategies to achieve better outcomes on all parameters. I do hope we have addressed all your concerns today. Should you require any further clarification or wish to continue this dialogue, our investor relations team remains at your disposal. Thank you once again for your time and engagement. Wishing you a very good evening. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of LIC, that concludes this conference. Thank you, everyone, for joining us, and Human Out is Connected Line.