Casparus J H Kromhout, Managing Director and CEO, Shriram Life Insurance.
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South Africa’s Sanlam Group has increased its stake in Shriram Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC). SLIC has seen a primary fund infusion of around ₹310 crore by both partners Sanlam and Shriram group and also a buyout existing investors, as the insurer accelerates plans to expand its insurance coverage to a wider population.Shriram Life Insurance is a joint venture between the financial conglomerate Shriram Group and South Africa-based financial services group Sanlam. With this, Sanlam’s stake in SLIC has crossed the halfway mark, standing at 52.05 per cent as of June 2026, up from around 38 per cent in December 2025.The funds will go towards strengthening the life insurer’s balance sheet and powering growth plans, including technology ramp-up, distribution partnerships, and tailored products.Growth moderates amid regulatory changesSLIC posted around 16 per cent growth in FY26, lower than the robust growth recorded in the previous three fiscals, as a slew of regulatory changes, such as surrender value and GST rate cut, weighed on business“16 percent is a decent growth for us after three years of strong growth. We tripled the size of the company in just around three years; this despite being a mid-size company already,” Casparus J H Kromhout, MD & CEO, Shriram Life Insurance, told businessline in an interaction. This year (FY27), we will grow around 20 per cent as we accelerate plans to tie up more larger banking partnerships, he added.Focus on under-served markets and banking partnerships“The Government’s Insurance for All goal will require the industry to sell more policies to under-served markets. For every 100 policies that we sold in 2010, we are now selling 384 policies in 2026,” says Kromhout.The recent geopolitical tensions, especially the West Asia war, also played out in the business in FY26. We were actually on track for 20 per cent growth in FY26, but ended up at 16 per cent because the final jump in March did not materialise, he said.Looking ahead, Shriram Life is prioritising bank partnerships. Having established linkages with cooperative and regional rural banks, the insurer is now mooting conversations with relatively larger private banks for distribution. We continue to build on our agency strength, Kromhout said.Renewals and rural reach drive business growthWe have also upped our focus on renewals, says the MD, noting a 13-month Persistency ratio of around 65 per cent as of FY26 and targeting it to reach 70 per cent in FY27.SLIC focuses on all segments, but the bulk of its business comes from the ₹5-15 lakh annual income group, with an emphasis on first-time buyers. This goal got a leg up in FY26 as 53 per cent of its new retail policies came from rural areas compared to the previous year (35 per cent). The insurer, which is today the third-largest in the rural segment, sold 541,409 policies in FY26 and paid out around ₹795 crore across 77,790 claims.Technology at the core of SLIC’s strategyTechnology is central to SLIC’s strategy and economics to serve the tier 2/3 markets effectively. Having invested in data analytics back in 2017, they are now seeing the results of putting the data architecture in place. We run around 20 machine learning models today across underwriting, fraud detection, lapse prediction and renewal collections, says Kromhout, adding that it also helps sales staff onboard new policyholders in around 10 minutes.Published on July 9, 2026
