Axis Max Life Insurance plans to list its stock directly

Mumbai: Axis Max Life Insurance plans to list its stock directly as soon as federal lawmakers pass the relevant amendment bill, managing director Prashant Tripathy said, as doing so would simplify the ownership structure and boost transparency. "We are very optimistic," Tripathy said in an interview. "All stakeholders, regulators, shareholders, promoters and management are aligned. Once the bill is cleared, hopefully in the monsoon session, we will act immediately."

Axis Max Life, currently owned jointly by Axis Bank and Max Financial Services, operates under a quasi-listed structure, where the parent companies are publicly traded but the insurance business is not directly listed. Tripathy said the structure is "suboptimal" and that collapsing it into a single listed entity would create better visibility and investor confidence.

The move comes amid a regulatory push to bring more insurers to the public markets to improve governance and deepen investor participation. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, once approved, is expected to ease listing norms for companies like Axis Max Life.

While preparing for its public debut, Axis Max Life is focusing on growth well above the industry average. For FY25, the company reported a 20% increase in total new business, compared with 15% for the private life insurance sector.

The insurer has delivered 18% compound annual growth over the past two years, double the industry average, Tripathy said.

"We aim to grow 300 to 400 basis points ahead of the private sector this year as well," he added. In April, the insurer posted a 24% rise in new business, compared to 2% for the rest of the private industry.

One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.

The company's proprietary distribution channels grew 30% in the last fiscal year, while bank-led channels expanded 13%. Axis Max Life's market share in the private life space now stands at 9.8%, up 37 basis points. Axis Bank entities, which own close to 19.99% in the insurance company, have seen contribution to the business income fall to 10-11%. Tripathy said, the insurer is expecting it to pick up to 14-15%.

Axis Max Life is targeting value of new business (VNB) margins in the range of 24-25%, balancing profitability with growth. "Our stated position has always been to work with target margins and then drive growth. We're not trying to be a 27-28% margin company. Our margin corridor is between 24-25%, and then we focus on growth. We landed at 24%. Hopefully, if we do better margins, our VNB growth will be more than the sales growth. About 24-25% is the corridor," Tripathy said.

The insurer has implemented deferred commission structures to increase persistence following regulatory changes around agent incentives, avoiding clawbacks.

The approach, Tripathy said, has been tailored by agent performance and is consistent across individual and corporate agencies.

The non-PAR segment, which slowed down last year, is expected to pick up. "My expectation is that non-PAR will also be start to grow, especially from our side. We sold more ULIPs last year, and of the total mix of about 46% were ULIPs. This year, non-par should increase by 3-4% and par should increase," he said.