“The test of a good strategy is when we don’t have to change course too often. It means you have thought it through and are doing right things fundamentally,” said Rajesh Sud, Executive Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Max Life Insurance Co.

Sud should know. In FY17, the private life insurer, under his leadership, recorded its best financial performance in the last decade.

“The year 2016-17 has been a record one for Max Life Insurance. The strategy going forward will be a lot about sustaining this momentum on the back of fundamentally good things done by us over many years,” Sud told BusinessLine in an exclusive chat while sharing some of the financial milestones achieved by the company.

For the first time ever, Max Life’s gross written premium crossed the ₹10,000-crore mark to touch ₹10,780 crore, up 17 per cent over FY16. Net profit grew 50 per cent to ₹660 crore. First year premium (individual + group) grew 27 per cent to ₹3,666 crore. Renewal premium grew 12 per cent to ₹7,114 crore.

The embedded value of the life insurer, which is the sole operating subsidiary of listed Max Financial Services, came in at ₹6,590 crore, up 26.3 per cent.

Sud, however, admitted that it would not be possible for Max Life to sustain the 50 per cent growth in bottomline, given that FY17 performance was aided by some “cashing out” of investments in the company’s debt portfolio based on market calls.

On the status of merger approval with HDFC Life Insurance, Sud said Max Life is still awaiting a response from IRDAI.

“We had in November 2016 itself sent our views on the reservation raised by IRDAI. We have to hear back from them,” Sud said, adding that Max Life continues to operate on a “business as usual” basis even as the ball is in IRDAI’s court.

“We can’t take our eyes off our business because of this (regulatory decision on merger). For us, performance is non-negotiable. We have not stepped our foot off the accelerator at all.”

Max Life is clearly eyeing leadership position in the private life insurance industry, irrespective of how its proposed merger with HDFC Life pans out.

“We are after the leadership spot not just by selling much more, but also retaining more. This business is about retaining customers. It’s all about retention and that’s what we are good at,” Sud said.

The company recorded a 13th month persistency of 80.4 per cent, up 160 basis points over the previous year. The 61st month persistency improved 10 percentage points to 53 per cent.

‘Big story’ The ‘big story’, according to Sud, is the rapid growth in assets under management (AUM), which saw a 24 per cent increase in FY17.

From a level of about ₹20,000 crore in FY14, the AUM has grown to about ₹45,000 crore in FY17, and will touch ₹90,000 crore in four years if this growth tempo is maintained, he said.

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