Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited

Financial Services — Insurance - Life · NSE

₹132.39−₹2.34 (−1.74%)

DalalBaazaar Score

34 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with modest growth. Valuation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:02 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited provides life and other insurance products for individuals, companies, businesses, and organizations in India.

IndustryInsurance - Life

SectorFinancial Services

Employees9,697

Annual revenue₹11,242 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹11,242 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹2 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 9,697 employees supports ₹1.16 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.16 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HDFC LIFE INS CO LTD, SBI LIFE INSURANCE CO LTD, ICICI PRU LIFE INS CO LTD, ICICI LOMBARD GIC LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Not assessable from these ratios

For a lender, returns on capital are shaped by leverage and funding cost rather than by pricing power, so the usual financial signature of an advantage does not apply. Judge this one on deposit franchise, cost of funds and asset quality — none of which are in this data.

Peer median ROE13.6%

What is the outlook?

2 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 23.0% and earnings to grow about 11.8% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+23.0%

Est. earnings growth+11.8%

Analysts2

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 1 years revenue moved +7% while net margin moved +1% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+7%

Margin effect+1%

DalalBaazaar Score

34/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders fund just 3.3% of the balance sheet — highly levered even by banking standards
• Capital adequacy, gross NPAs and provision coverage decide a lender's financial health, and none are available here — check the bank's own quarterly disclosure

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

34/ 100

Weak

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

32/ 100

Expensive

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

93.9x

1.2Y Median

114.2x

14 monthly readings · mean 110.8x · range 94.5x–120.3x

Sector Median

47.6x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 18% below its 1.2y median of 114.2x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 97% above the peer median of 47.6x.

vs. its own history

Fair

114.2x median over 14 months · -18%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

47.6x median of 4 peers · +97%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

71.5x

PEG

11.41

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 97% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 7.3% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
Size brings its own risk
Small Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1EBITDA margin holds above 0%✓ 1.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Return on equity stays above 8%✓ 8.4%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
3Revenue growth stays above 5% a year✓ 7.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 10.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4Valuation vs its own median of 114.2x✓ 93.9x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

7 / 11 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✗ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

4 good · 5 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹12,544 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

93.9x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

7.73x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹1.41

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

8.4%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

Not meaningful

N/A for lenders

Banks and NBFCs don't report capital employed the way other businesses do

Debt/Equity

0.15x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

10.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

4.8%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

0.30%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹2,267 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

69.7x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

ROA

0.2%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

1.9%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

1.1%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.14

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

52W Range Position

43%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

144.7 / 149.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

17.6

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (2-Year)

Metric	FY25	FY26	1Y CAGR
Revenue	₹10,476 Cr	₹11,242 Cr	+7.3%
EBITDA	₹158 Cr	₹170 Cr	+7.7%
EBITDA Margin	1.5%	1.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹117 Cr	₹127 Cr	+8.2%
EPS	₹1.23	₹1.33	+8.0%
ROE	7.7%	7.9%	—
Free Cash Flow	₹1,196 Cr	₹3,523 Cr	+194.5%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 7.3% a year over 1 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 7.7% a year over 1 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 1.5% over 1 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 8.2% a year over 1 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 8.0% a year over 1 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 7.9% over 1 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 194.5% a year over 1 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹48,057 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹46,451 Cr

Total Debt

₹250 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹613 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

—

Capex

-₹10 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

21.0%

Insider Holding

75.3%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.4

Ex-Dividend Date

14 Aug 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

8 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹191.38

+44.6% vs CMP

Target Range

₹166 – ₹235

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HDFC LIFE INS CO LTD	58.4x	11.3%
SBI LIFE INSURANCE CO LTD	63.9x	13.7%
ICICI PRU LIFE INS CO LTD	36.7x	12.9%
ICICI LOMBARD GIC LIMITED	33.0x	13.6%

Recent News

1 positive3 mixed1 negative1 general

Canara HSBC Life Q2 profit rises 5% YoY to Rs 43 crore

The Economic Times, 10 OctResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Buy Canara HSBC Life Insurance; target of Rs 180: Motilal Oswal

Moneycontrol.com, 12 Oct

Canara HSBC Life Shares: Nirmal Bang Cuts Target Price, Yet Sees 33% Upside; Here's Why

NDTV Profit, 12 OctAnalyst view

🔴Potentially negativeAn analyst opinion changing, which moves the price without changing the business.

Canara HSBC Life share price: Brokerages see up to 69% upside after Q2 results; check targets

Business Today, 12 OctResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Canara HSBC Life jumps 12% to 52-week high after Q1 results; time to buy?

Business Standard, 21 JulResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

CANHLIFE Share Price Falls 5.04%: Price Action & Valuation

Univest, 09 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Watch Items

This is a financial-sector business: borrowing is its raw material, not leverage in the usual sense. Debt/Equity and ROCE here aren't comparable to a manufacturer's — read them alongside NIM, GNPA and capital adequacy from the company's own disclosures.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation.

All 4 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑