Don't Expect Material Change in Banca Norms: HDFC Life MD

With the number of policies sold in the first quarter of 2025-26 (Q1FY26) declining for HDFC Life Insurance, Vibha Padalkar, the company's managing director and chief executive officer, expressed hope that things will pick up in the next 2-3 quarters. In a telephonic interview with Aathira Varier and Subrata Panda, Padalkar talks about clarity on bancassurance, the firm's performance and the road ahead, amid a challenging environment marked by choppy equity markets and a monetary easing cycle. Edited excerpts:

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Bancassurance has been a major discussion point over the last few months. Is there any clarity from the regulator's side or from the government on how they want to go about it?

There is a lot of clarity now. Clearly, the government's views are that it is important to have distribution touchpoints to get to the last mile. Banks have six times the number of touchpoints than insurance companies, including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). So, they have no intentions to meddle in the construct of the way bancassurance works today. At the same time, they are saying that on credit life, for example, people should be able to borrow without necessarily or mandatorily having to buy insurance, which we have no disconnect with.

Also, the general guidance has been to look at mis-selling complaints wherever there are senior citizens, poorer sections involved, and so on, which we have rolled out. Those are all good things to have, but we do not expect anything that is a material change in bancassurance regulations or it happening at a very sudden pace without engagement with the sector.