12 November 2018
C
orner
O
ffice
the
Interaction with the CEO
Business momentum strong
Operating metrics continue improving
We met CEO of HDFC Life Insurance Company. Key takeaways:
Product mix to improve led by rising contribution of Non-participating business:
HDFCLIFE expects ULIP’s share in the overall mix to moderate (after increasing in
2QFY19) and the contribution from other segments to increase. This bodes well for
the company from a mix improvement perspective. The strategy to substitute
Participating with Non-participating business has proved beneficial for HDFCLIFE.
Annuity has emerged as a profitable segment, offering steady growth opportunity.
HDFCLIFE has been able to maintain its lead because of its strong brand name,
product features and customer service. The company fully hedges its annuity
exposure, and thus, is not vulnerable to interest rate movements.
Bancassurance count increasing steadily; dependency on group declining:
HDFCLIFE
has signed up with 201 partners for offering its credit protect product. The company
sees further scope to improve upon its loan penetration and credit protect
attachment rate. The recent NBFC turmoil has impacted growth in credit-linked
products, but HDFCLIFE’s focus on diversifying the origination mix is helping maintain
steady growth. The share of the credit protect business from NBFCs other than
parent has increased to ~70%.
Agency channel contribution to improve gradually; channel economics also
favorable:
HDFCLIFE has added ~37,000 agents over the past 18 months, with the
agent count now at 91,179. The sourcing mix of this channel stands at 11%. Agency
training program is also proving helpful – agents are trained to understand product
dynamics, and thus, the emphasis is on selling profitable products. HDFCLIFE has
maintained strong cost control on this channel and expects profitability to improve
with more operating leverage kicking in.
HDFC Standard Life
Insurance Ltd
Ms Vibha Padalkar
MD & CEO
Ms Vibha Padalkar is MD &
CEO of HDFC life Insurance
Company Ltd. since September
12, 2018 and also serves as its
interim CFO. She joined HDFC
life in August, 2008.
Prior to her appointment, she
has worked in varied sectors
such as Business Process
Outsourcing (WNS Global
Services), FMCG (Colgate
Palmolive (India) Limited) and
Big 4 audit firm (Lovelock &
Lewes (part of PWC). She leads
the finance, legal, secretarial
and compliance, internal audit
and risk functions as well
oversight of pension
subsidiary, HDFC Pension.
Ms Vibha qualified as a
member of the ICAEW in 1992.
She is also a member of the
Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India.
Management KRA is fairly objective and detailed:
HDFC LIFE has in place detailed
and objective KRAs for its top and middle management team, which are defined on a
five-point scale. Some of the KRAs are: (i) new business premium growth, (ii) renewal
premium growth, (iii) 13
th
month persistency, (iv) IGAAP profits, (v) new business margin, (vi) embedded value
operating profit, (vii) employee, distributor and customer satisfaction, (viii) repudiation rate, and (ix) turn-around-
time. This enables HDFCLIFE to measure performances against the assigned targets without any scope of ambiguity.
Research Analyst: Nitin Aggarwal
(Nitin.Aggarwal@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 3982 5540
| Parth Gutka
(Parth.Gutka@motilaloswal.com); +91 22 3010 2746
Alpesh Mehta
(Alpesh.Mehta@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 3982 5415
| Yash Agarwal
(Yash.Agarwal@motilaloswal.com); +91 22 3846 6693
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
Motilal Oswal research is available on www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P Capital.