Where Your Premium Actually Goes: Product Mix at India’s Top Life Insurers
Cheat Sheet
Why product mix matters when you buy term insurance
When you buy term insurance, you’re trusting the insurer to pay your family decades from now. Their product mix tells you whether term insurance is the company’s main business or a tiny side offering.
An insurer that earns 50% of its new business from ULIPs and 5% from term insurance has a very different business model from one where protection is 19% of revenue. The first company’s distribution, underwriting, and technology investments are geared towards investment products.
That doesn’t automatically mean they’ll reject your claim. Claim settlement ratios are the direct measure of that. But product mix reveals something subtler: where the insurer’s attention, innovation, and management focus go. If you’re buying a product that represents 5% of their revenue, you’re not their priority customer.
This article uses six years of data from official annual reports and investor presentations to show exactly how India’s four largest listed life insurers earn their money.
How to read these numbers
These numbers cannot be compared across insurers without context. Each company uses a different metric (APE or NBP), defines “protection” differently, and includes different product types. This article compares each insurer against itself over time. The VNB margin section at the end is the one defensible cross-insurer comparison.
| Insurer | Metric | Unit | What “protection” includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICICI Prudential | Total APE | Rs billion | Individual term + group term + credit life |
| HDFC Life | Individual APE | Rs crore | Individual term insurance only |
| SBI Life | New Business Premium (NBP) | Rs billion | Individual + group protection (reported separately) |
| LIC | Individual APE | Rs crore | Non-Par Protection sub-segment (disclosed from 9M FY26 only) |
APE (Annualised Premium Equivalent) takes each policy’s first-year premium and adds 10% of any single premium paid. NBP (New Business Premium) counts single premiums at face value. An SBI Life total NBP of Rs 313 billion is not comparable to an ICICI Prudential APE of Rs 68 billion; the metrics measure different things.
ICICI Prudential: the ULIP pendulum
ICICI Prudential is the closest thing to a balanced life insurer among India’s listed players. Protection is consistently their second-largest segment, and it hit 19.0% of total APE in 9M FY26, the highest share among all listed insurers we tracked. Retail protection (excluding credit life) grew over 50% year-on-year in 9M FY26.
The dominant story, though, is ULIPs. The ULIP share swung from 64.7% in FY20 to 35.9% in FY23 and back to 49.3% in 9M FY26. These swings track equity market sentiment: when the Nifty rallied in FY20 and again from late FY24, ULIP sales surged. When markets were choppy (FY23), customers shifted to guaranteed savings products, pushing non-linked savings to 37.3%.
| Year | Protection | ULIP | Non-linked savings | Annuity | Group | Total APE (Rs bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY20 | 15.1% | 64.7% | 15.5% | 1.4% | 3.3% | 73.8 |
| FY21 | 16.2% | 47.8% | 27.5% | 3.5% | 4.9% | 64.6 |
| FY22 | 17.0% | 48.3% | 27.4% | 3.9% | 3.4% | 77.3 |
| FY23 | 17.4% | 35.9% | 37.3% | 5.9% | 3.5% | 86.4 |
| FY24 | 16.9% | 43.2% | 25.8% | 10.5% | 3.5% | 90.5 |
| FY25 | 15.7% | 48.3% | 21.2% | 8.4% | 6.4% | 104.1 |
| 9M FY26 | 19.0% | 49.3% | 20.4% | 5.4% | 5.9% | 68.1 |
Source: ICICI Prudential Annual Reports FY22-FY25; standalone 9M FY26 Investor Presentation (Jan 13, 2026). “Protection” includes individual term, group term, and credit life.
The annuity spike in FY24 (10.5%) is worth noticing. ICICI Prudential made a conscious push into retirement products, and annuity share jumped from 1.4% in FY20 to 10.5% in four years. It has since pulled back to 5.4% in 9M FY26, but the company is clearly building a retirement franchise alongside its ULIP and protection businesses.
For term insurance buyers, ICICI Prudential’s 15-19% protection share means term products get meaningful management attention. Their insurer guide has more on their specific plan offerings and claim track record.
HDFC Life: protection is the smallest slice
HDFC Life’s individual APE numbers make it look like the least protection-focused listed insurer. At 4-7% of individual APE, term insurance is consistently the smallest segment. ULIP and non-par savings together account for 60-70% of their individual new business.
But these numbers need context. HDFC Life reports protection on three different bases, and they tell very different stories.
| Basis | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | 9M FY25 | 9M FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual APE | 4.1% | 5.1% | 5.4% | 5.7% | 7.3% |
| Overall APE (incl. group) | 13.3% | 13.3% | 11.4% | 12.5% | 14.4% |
| NBP basis | 29.0% | 32.1% | 26.8% | 28.5% | 30.5% |
Source: HDFC Life 9M FY26 Investor Presentation, p33.
On an NBP basis, protection is 30.5% of new business. The gap exists because term insurance premiums are mostly regular-pay (counted in full under NBP) while savings products often involve large single premiums (counted at 10% under APE). Neither metric is wrong; they just answer different questions.
| Year | Protection | ULIP | Par | Non-par savings | Annuity | Indiv APE (₹ cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY21 | 7% | 24% | 34% | 31% | 5% | 7,121 |
| FY22 | 6% | 26% | 30% | 33% | 5% | 8,168 |
| FY23 | 4% | 19% | 27% | 45% | 5% | 11,400 |
| FY24 | 5% | 35% | 23% | 30% | 6% | 11,510 |
| FY25 | 5% | 39% | 19% | 32% | 5% | 13,620 |
| 9M FY26 | 7% | 43% | 27% | 19% | 4% | 9,990 |
Source: HDFC Life Integrated Annual Reports FY22-FY25; 9M FY26 Investor Presentation, p17, p33. APE figures converted to Rs crore (1 bn = 100 cr) where original was in Rs billion.
The real story here is the ULIP surge. ULIP went from 19% (FY23) to 43% (9M FY26), overtaking non-par savings as the dominant product. Non-par savings collapsed from 45% to 19% in the same period. Par products swung between 19% and 34%, landing at 27% in 9M FY26.
For a deeper look at HDFC Life’s term plans and claim settlement record, see their insurer guide.
SBI Life: ULIP dominance, par collapse
SBI Life reports on NBP (new business premium) basis, not APE. NBP counts single premiums at face value, making ULIP and savings numbers appear much larger relative to regular-premium products like term insurance. Do not compare these percentages directly with ICICI Prudential or HDFC Life.
SBI Life’s product mix tells two stories. First, the participatory (traditional endowment) business has nearly vanished. Par products were 12.8% of savings NBP in FY19; by FY25, they were down to 3%. In 9M FY26, Par bounced to 4% as Par APE grew 116% year-on-year, but it remains a fraction of what it once was.
Second, ULIP is dominant. It was 53% of savings NBP in FY19, peaked at 69% in FY22, and sits at 52% in 9M FY26. SBI Life’s bancassurance network (the State Bank of India branch system) is naturally suited to selling market-linked products to bank customers.
| Year | Par | Non-par | ULIP | Total NBP (Rs bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY19 | 12.8% | 34.2% | 53.0% | 137.9 |
| FY20 | 7.0% | 44.3% | 48.7% | 165.9 |
| FY21 | 4.7% | 53.7% | 41.6% | 206.2 |
| FY22 | 5% | 27% | 69% | 254.6 |
| FY23 | 5% | 42% | 53% | 295.9 |
| FY24 | 3% | 39% | 58% | 382.4 |
| FY25 | 3% | 36% | 61% | 355.8 |
| 9M FY26 | 4% | 44% | 52% | 313.3 |
Source: SBI Life FY25 Investor Presentation p16; 9M FY26 Investor Presentation p9. Par + Non-Par + ULIP = 100% (savings mix only). Protection, annuity, and group business are reported separately.
The protection story is more concerning for term insurance buyers. SBI Life’s individual protection NBP peaked at Rs 10.0 billion in FY23 and has since declined: Rs 9.5 billion (FY24), Rs 7.9 billion (FY25), and Rs 6.5 billion in 9M FY26. Group protection NBP, meanwhile, grew from Rs 21.1 billion (FY22) to Rs 33.0 billion (FY25). The company’s protection business is shifting from individual term policies toward group corporate covers.
For more on SBI Life’s term plans, see the SBI Life insurer guide.
LIC: the black box, partially cracked
Until 9M FY26, LIC only disclosed two categories for individual business: participatory (Par) and non-participatory (Non-Par). You could not answer a basic question: what percentage of LIC’s new business is term insurance? For any other insurer, this would be standard information.
The 9M FY26 investor presentation changed that. For the first time, LIC disclosed the Non-Par sub-segment breakdown.
The bigger surprise was ULIPs. LIC’s ULIP business within Non-Par grew 103% year-on-year to ₹4,609 crore, making it the single largest Non-Par sub-segment. Savings (₹4,124 crore) and annuity (₹1,136 crore) round out the rest.
| Year | Par | Non-Par | Individual APE (₹ cr) | VNB (₹ cr) | VNB margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 92.9% | 7.1% | 35,572 | 7,619 | 15.1% |
| FY23 | 91.1% | 8.9% | 38,667 | 9,156 | 16.2% |
| FY24 | 81.7% | 18.3% | 38,433 | 9,583 | 16.8% |
| FY25 | 72.3% | 27.7% | 38,217 | 10,011 | 17.6% |
| 9M FY26 | 63.5% | 36.5% | 27,552 | 8,288 | 18.8% |
Source: LIC Annual Reports FY22-FY25 (Milliman Embedded Value letters); LIC 9M FY26 Investor Analysts Presentation (Feb 5, 2026). Par/Non-Par split only; sub-segment data available for 9M FY26 only.
The Par share dropped from 92.9% (FY22) to 63.5% (9M FY26). That shift accelerated after the September 2025 GST removal on life insurance premiums, which made non-par and ULIP products relatively more attractive. LIC’s VNB margin has risen in parallel, from 15.1% to 18.8%, because non-par and ULIP products generate higher margins than traditional par endowments.
For a term insurance buyer, the 0.64% figure confirms what many suspected: term insurance is a rounding error in LIC’s business. Their distribution network of nearly 14 lakh agents is primarily set up to sell participatory endowment and money-back plans. Whether that matters for claim settlement is a separate question; LIC’s CSR track record speaks for itself. But it explains why buying a term plan from LIC can feel like an afterthought in their agent’s sales pitch.
More on LIC’s term plans in the LIC insurer guide.
What the profit margins reveal
VNB (Value of New Business) margin is the one metric that works across insurers. It measures the present value of future profits from new policies as a percentage of APE. A higher VNB margin means the insurer earns more from each rupee of new premium it writes.
| Year | LIC | HDFC Life | SBI Life | ICICI Pru | Max Life | Kotak Life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 15.1% | 27.4% | — | 28.0% | — | — |
| FY23 | 16.2% | 27.6% | — | 32.0% | — | — |
| FY24 | 16.8% | 26.3% | 28.1% | 24.6% | — | — |
| FY25 | 17.6% | 25.6% | 27.8% | 22.8% | — | 25.0% |
| 9M FY26 | 18.8% | 24.4% | 27.2% | 24.4% | 23.6% | — |
Sources: HDFC Life 9M FY26 Investor Presentation; ICICI Prudential standalone 9M FY26 Investor Presentation; SBI Life 9M FY26 Investor Presentation; LIC 9M FY26 Investor Analysts Presentation; Max Life / Max Financial 9M FY26 Investor Presentation; Kotak Life Annual Report FY25. “—” = data not available for that period.
Two patterns stand out. LIC’s margin has risen steadily from 15.1% to 18.8% as its product mix shifts away from low-margin participatory plans. It still has the lowest margin among listed insurers, but the gap is narrowing. ICICI Prudential’s margin, meanwhile, dropped from a peak of 32.0% (FY23) to 24.4% (9M FY26), reflecting their shift back toward ULIPs, which carry lower margins than protection or guaranteed savings.
SBI Life leads at 27.2%. Their VNB margin would have been 28.3% without the one-time impact of the September 2025 GST removal, which required product repricing that temporarily compressed margins by 1.1 percentage points.
VNB margin does not measure profitability on existing policies. It only covers new business written in the period. An insurer with a 25% VNB margin on a shrinking book can be less profitable overall than one with an 18% margin on a rapidly growing book.
What this means for term insurance buyers
Product mix does not predict whether your claim will be paid. The claim settlement ratio and solvency ratio are the direct measures of that. Every insurer on this list has solvency well above the IRDAI minimum of 1.50x.
What product mix reveals is incentive alignment. When term insurance is 19% of ICICI Prudential’s APE, the company has a financial reason to invest in term underwriting, digital buying journeys, and fast claim processes. When it is 0.64% at LIC or 7% at HDFC Life, those investments compete for attention against product lines that generate 10x to 50x more revenue.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid any insurer. It means you should check the details that matter for your specific situation: claim settlement track record, plan features, premium competitiveness, and persistency ratios (which tell you how many policyholders stick around). Product mix is context, not a verdict.
Frequently asked questions
What is product mix in life insurance?
Product mix refers to the proportion of an insurer’s new business that comes from each product category: ULIPs, participatory (endowment/money-back), non-par savings, protection (term insurance), annuity, and group products. Insurers disclose this data in their annual reports and investor presentations, usually as a percentage of APE or NBP.
Why can’t I compare HDFC Life’s 7% protection share with ICICI Prudential’s 19%?
Because the metrics and definitions differ. HDFC Life’s 7% is individual APE only, excluding group business. ICICI Prudential’s 19% is total APE, including group term and credit life. HDFC Life’s protection share on a total APE basis is 14.4%. Additionally, ICICI Prudential’s broader definition of “protection” inflates their percentage relative to HDFC Life’s narrower definition.
Does a low protection share mean the insurer is bad for term insurance?
Not necessarily. Claim settlement ratio, solvency, and customer service matter more for your individual experience. HDFC Life has consistently high CSR despite its low protection share. Product mix is one data point among several.
What is VNB margin?
VNB (Value of New Business) margin measures the present value of expected future profits from new policies as a percentage of Annualised Premium Equivalent. A higher margin means the insurer earns more from each rupee of new premium. It is influenced by product mix: protection and non-par savings typically carry higher margins than participatory plans or ULIPs.
Why did LIC’s VNB margin rise while its product mix shifted?
LIC’s traditional participatory plans carry thin margins because they guarantee returns and share a high proportion of surplus with policyholders. As Non-Par products (which don’t share surplus) grew from 7.1% to 36.5% of individual APE, margin improved mechanically. The ULIP surge within Non-Par further helped, as ULIPs carry fund management fees that contribute to VNB.
Find out how much term cover you need. Use the coverage calculator to work out the right sum assured based on your income, debts, and dependents. Then check estimated premiums across insurers.
Related reading
- Claim settlement ratio ranking 2024-25 — which insurers actually pay claims, by count and by amount
- Solvency ratio ranking — financial health of every life insurer, updated to December 2025
- Lapse and persistency data — how many policyholders stick around at each insurer
- LIC vs private insurers — a cross-metric comparison of public and private life insurance
- Average claim size — what families actually receive, and why product mix is part of the explanation
CSR methodology: All Claim Settlement Ratios on this page use the IRDAI Handbook formula: Claims Paid ÷ (Claims Paid + Claims Repudiated + Claims Rejected), by policy count. Pending claims and unclaimed amounts are excluded from the denominator. Source: IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute insurance advice. Consult an IRDAI-registered insurance advisor for recommendations tailored to your specific financial situation and needs.
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Gyansurance Editorial
The Gyansurance Editorial team is a mix of financial journalists, insurance advisors and copy editors. Together, we are aiming to demystify life insurance for Indian readers around the world.
