HDFC Life clocked in good gains in April on a weak base. Growth was driven by the single premium business this month. The number of COVID deaths spiked in the second wave. Vibha Padalkar, MD and CEO at HDFC Life Insurance discussed the related claims and outlook ahead.

About growth, she said, “The more normalised growth will be in the range of 15-20 percent and that is something that we will continue to target and that is how we have grown in the past. That is the kind of calibrated growth that we do see and it will continue to inch upwards.”

“The regular non-COVID claims have gone down significantly. So there is some effect of balancing but we aren’t out of the woods yet,” she shared.

The trends in the month of April are not yet negative. There could also be delay in notification of deaths.

In terms of COVID claims, Padalkar mentioned, “For the month of January, we were trending above 200 cases. That came down for the month of March at around 120 cases.”

“We are watching the space very closely and we will continue to strengthen our COVID reserves if we think there is a requirement to do so,” she said.

So far the COVID claims are within the assumption, she added.

In terms of premiums, Padalkar expects a little bit of tapering off on the fringes in May and maybe in June. “We are not expecting large scale unemployment, large scale businesses being under stress and consequently impact our potential numbers,” she shared.

Credit Life on their disbursement has grown well, it is piggy-backing on the entire HFC group, she said.

For the full interview, watch the video...

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:May 12, 2021 12:04 PM IST