HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited

Financial Services — Insurance - Life · NSE

₹553.00+₹2.45 (+0.45%)

DalalBaazaar Score

46 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with both sales and profits growing well. Short-term liquidity is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of HDFC 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?

HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited engages in the provision of individual and group insurance solutions in India.

IndustryInsurance - Life

SectorFinancial Services

Employees38,291

Annual revenue₹91,606 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹91,606 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹3 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 38,291 employees supports ₹2.39 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.39 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are 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?

21 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 21.6% and earnings to grow about 12.2% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+21.6%

Est. earnings growth+12.2%

Analysts21

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +30% while net margin moved +7% 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+30%

Margin effect+7%

DalalBaazaar Score

46/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders fund just 4.5% 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

41/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

39/ 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

58.4x

3Y Median

90.8x

40 monthly readings · mean 88.4x · range 58.8x–111.6x

Sector Median

36.7x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 36% below its 3y median of 90.8x. 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 59% above the peer median of 36.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

90.8x median over 40 months · -36%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

36.7x median of 3 peers · +59%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

51.4x

PEG

4.95

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Receivables growing faster than sales
Receivables are up 83% against revenue growth of 30% — customers are taking longer to pay.
Short-term liquidity is tight
Current ratio of 0.92 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

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?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 36% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 59% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 1%✓ 2.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Return on equity stays above 9%✓ 11.3%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
3Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 9.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 19.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4Valuation vs its own median of 90.8x✓ 58.4x 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

6 good · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹1.20 L Cr

Large Cap

Large, widely-covered business — typically the steadiest of the bands

P/E (Trailing)

58.4x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

6.33x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹9.47

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

11.3%

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

0.16x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

19.2%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

12.5%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.38%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹3,559 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

47.5x

Improving

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

ROA

0.4%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

2.3%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

1.9%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.92

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.51

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

16%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

544.4 / 541.2

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

63.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹70,246 Cr	₹95,823 Cr	₹90,069 Cr	₹91,606 Cr	+9.3%
EBITDA	₹1,471 Cr	₹1,760 Cr	₹2,124 Cr	₹2,352 Cr	+16.9%
EBITDA Margin	2.1%	1.8%	2.4%	2.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1,368 Cr	₹1,574 Cr	₹1,811 Cr	₹1,912 Cr	+11.8%
EPS	₹6.41	₹7.31	₹8.41	₹8.86	+11.4%
ROE	10.5%	10.7%	11.2%	10.8%	—
Total Debt	₹950 Cr	₹950 Cr	₹2,950 Cr	₹3,099 Cr	+48.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹6,796 Cr	₹10,585 Cr	₹15,296 Cr	₹22,338 Cr	+48.7%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 9.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 16.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 2.6% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 11.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 11.4% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 10.8% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 48.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 48.7% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹3.91 L Cr

Total Liabilities

₹3.73 L Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2,405 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

—

Capex

-₹287 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

12.4%

Insider Holding

24.1%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

14 Jan 2027

Dividend Rate

₹2.1

Ex-Dividend Date

19 Jun 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

33 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹718.67

+30.0% vs CMP

Target Range

₹610 – ₹910

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
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 mixed2 general

HDFC Life files BRSR for FY 2025-26

scanx.trade, 18 Oct

HDFC Life Share Price Declines as Metrics Stay in Focus

Univest, 16 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.

Stock to buy today: HDFC Life Insurance Company (₹555)

BusinessLine, 16 Oct

HDFC Life Insurance sheds 3% post Q2 results; brokerages remain upbeat

Business Standard, 16 OctResults

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

HDFC Life Q2 Results: Net Profit Rises 3.27% to ₹447 Crore; Stock reclaims after declining 3%

India Infoline, 16 OctResults

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

HDFC Life posts 14% rise in Sept quarter profit

The Economic Times, 16 OctResults

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

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.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth · Risk

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation

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 ↑