Ageas Federal Life Insurance on Thursday reported a 20 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 119 crore for 2020-21.
The private sector insurer had posted a net profit of Rs 148 crore in 2019-20.
Total premium garnered by the insurer, however, moved up by 6 per cent to Rs 1,959 crore in 2020-21, against Rs 1,843 crore in the preceding fiscal year, it said in a statement.
Ageas said it is its ninth consecutive year of profit since it first declared profit in 2012-13.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Ageas Federal's total premium rose 6 per cent to Rs 1,959 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 1,843 crore in 2019-20.
The growth was driven by a 24 per cent rise in individual new business premium to Rs 504 crore and 4 per cent rise in renewal premium to Rs 1,327 crore.
The company also benefited from a strong growth of 40 per cent in individual new business premium from Federal Bank, it added.
The insurer said its board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 104 crore, at a rate of dividend of 13 per cent, subject to approval at the ensuing annual general meeting.
An understanding of customers' needs during the pandemic and catering to them with the appropriate products and solutions has helped Ageas Federal to post a value of new business (VNB) margin of 20.6 per cent, it said.
The company's average turnaround time (TAT) in resolving complaints during the year was two days which is among the best in the life insurance industry and considerably lower than the industry average of five days, it said further.
Asset under management moved up by 24 per cent to Rs 12,101 crore as on March 31, 2021, from Rs 9,775 crore by the end of 2019-20.
Recognising the challenges due to the COVID-19 breakout, its MD & CEO Vighnesh Shahane said the company has taken several steps to steady the course of onboarding for customers.
"Our profitability is borne out of continued efficiencies in achieving improved persistency, rationalisation in costs, decline in surrenders, and healthier solvency margin.
"We realigned our product suite in tune with the the evolving needs of customers during the pandemic, introducing features that made our products more customer-centric and offered policyholders greater flexibility," Shahane said.
On the business front, the company said it will continue to ramp up its proprietary distribution channels, while looking to further leverage the relationship with bancassurance partners.
"The pandemic has greatly accelerated our digital journey and we will continue to focus on digital initiatives and solutions that provide a superior experience to our customers, partners, vendors and employees," he added.
