The board of ICICI Prudential (IPRU) Life has approved the appointment of Anup Bagchi as MD and CEO for a period of five years, effective 19th Jun’23. For a seamless transition, he is appointed as ED and chief operating officer, effective 1st May’23. Accordingly, Bagchi, who holds the position of ED at ICICI Bank and heads the wholesale banking business, has resigned, effective 30th Apr’23. The tenure of current MD and CEO, N. S. Kannan, will end on 18th Jun’23, post which he will superannuate from the company. IPRU has successfully managed to navigate the crisis under Kannan’s leadership, and is currently on track to achieve its stated guidance of doubling its value of new business (VNB) from the FY2019 to the FY2023.
However, due to pressure from the banca channel, which may have affected the company’s ability to generate growth in premiums.
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In the first nine months of FY23, APE grew by a muted 4% y-o-y, which may suggest that growth remains slow. Growth in the banca channel has been weak, so IPRU is focusing on other partnerships to offset weak growth in ICICIBC’s banca channel. As a result, the mix of ICICIBC in overall APE moderated to 16.9% in 9MFY23 v/s 48.8% in 9MFY20, while other banca channel’s mix improved to 13.5% v/s 4.4%. We believe that the recovery in premium growth would be key for re-rating as the recent budgetary announcement could further hamper the growth trajectory.
The increase in agent recruitment and the strong pace of new partnership additions is likely to aid growth in premiums. Further, the strategy of approaching customers with a wider product bouquet through all channels will also boost premium growth.