Institutional Equities This page has been intentionally left blank Institutional Equities Life Insurance Sector 3 April 2019 A Very Attractive Way To Play Indian Financials View: POSITIVE We think that the Indian listed life insurance sector is a very attractive way to play Indian Financials since certain aspects of the sector look structurally superior to the Indian credit sector and Indian Shivaji Thapliyal asset management sector. A key conclusion is that a very significant portion of the overall value that Research Analyst the life insurance sector will generate will accrue to the top 4 (listed) private sector life insurers. We
[email protected] base this broad, over-arching conclusion on the following: (1) From a player count perspective, competitive intensity for the top 4 private sector life insurers is comparably lower than in the credit +91-22-6273 8068 industry and in the asset management industry (2) Along with LIC, the top 4 private sector life insurers form a de-facto oligopoly since they enjoy non-replicable access to large and efficient bancassurance networks. We assign a Buy Rating on all 4 listed life insurers, SBI Life, ICICI Prudential Life, Max Raghav Garg Financial Services and HDFC Life. Our top pick in the life insurance sector is SBI Life. Research Analyst From a player count perspective, competitive intensity for the top 4 private sector life insurers is
[email protected] comparably lower than in the credit industry and in the asset management industry: The number of life +91-22-6273 8192 insurers operating in India has remained largely static over the last decade or so, with player count increasing by only a solitary new entrant since 2010 (in 2012), to a count of 24.