Max Financial Services FY26: Axis Max Life grows new business strongly, while profits soften

Max Financial Services released its FY26 investor update on May 12, 2026, covering the operating performance of Axis Max Life Insurance and select consolidated disclosures from the holding company. The message is broadly consistent through the deck: strong growth in new business and value creation metrics, driven by a more balanced product mix and an intentional tilt toward proprietary distribution. At the same time, a decline in profit before tax and a rise in the policyholder expense ratio indicate that growth came with higher near-term costs and volatility.

For FY26, the presentation highlights consolidated revenue for Max Financial Services excluding investment income at 38,039 crore, up 17% year on year, and consolidated profit after tax of 106 crore. Including investment income, consolidated revenue is stated at 47,696 crore. For Axis Max Life, the operating focus stays on premium growth, margins, embedded value, and distribution momentum.

New business growth stayed ahead of the private industry

Axis Max Life reported total APE excluding group term life of 10,502 crore in FY26, a 20% increase over FY25. Individual adjusted first year premium was 9,885 crore, up 19% year on year. The deck also states that individual adjusted FYP growth was ahead of the private industry, which grew 12% year on year.

This translated into scale across the premium pool. Gross written premium rose 17% to 38,877 crore, while renewal premium increased 16% to 24,374 crore. Policy volumes also expanded, with 935 thousand policies sold in FY26, up 18%.

A notable supporting indicator is individual new business sum assured, which increased 42% to 5,43,210 crore. The company states it maintained rank 3 in individual sum assured among private life insurance companies. The deck also notes that private market share reached 10.4% during FY26, up from 9.8% in FY25.

Product mix: balanced mix, with protection and annuity gaining share

The FY26 product mix shows Axis Max Life continuing to rely meaningfully on ULIPs, while strengthening protection, health, and annuity. On APE mix, FY26 is presented as 36% ULIP, 21% NPAR savings, 16% PAR, 13% protection and health, 10% annuity, and 5% group.

The line-of-business table in the deck helps quantify where growth was strongest.

Within the line of business mix, annuity stands out. Annuity APE rose to 1,050 crore in FY26 from 492 crore in FY25, a 113% increase. Retail protection and health APE increased 53% to 1,373 crore from 896 crore. PAR grew 31% to 1,777 crore and NPAR savings grew 9% to 2,256 crore. ULIP APE was broadly flat at 3,898 crore versus 3,829 crore.

The company positions protection and retirement as a structural opportunity. It reports total protection and health APE at 1,885 crore in FY26, up from 1,344 crore in FY25, while retail protection and health APE reached 1,373 crore.

Value creation improved, but EV bridge shows non-operating headwinds

Axis Max Life’s value of new business rose 26% to 2,647 crore in FY26, and new business margin improved to 25.2% from 24.0%. Operating RoEV is reported at 18.7% for FY26.

Embedded value as of March 2026 is shown at 28,871 crore. The EV movement bridge from March 2025 to March 2026 highlights the building blocks: value of new business at 2,647 crore and unwind at 2,053 crore, with operating variance positive at 20 crore. However, the deck reports a negative non-operating variance of 714 crore, which offsets part of the operating progress.

The presentation also includes a sensitivity table as of March 31, 2026, showing that EV and VNB are meaningfully sensitive to mortality and expenses. For example, a 10% increase in expenses reduces VNB by 9.1% and lowers NBM by 2.3 percentage points, while a 10% increase in mortality reduces EV by 3.1%.

Distribution: proprietary channels gain share, partnerships broaden

A central strategic theme in the deck is the effort to grow proprietary channels alongside bancassurance partnerships. Channel mix on APE shifted steadily in favor of proprietary distribution: 40% in FY24, 42% in FY25, and 45% in FY26. Partnership channels represented 55% in FY26.

In absolute terms, proprietary channels delivered APE of 4,765 crore in FY26, up 28% from 3,723 crore in FY25. Partnership APE increased 14% to 5,737 crore from 5,047 crore.

The proprietary story is also a mix story. The deck notes a bias to drive margins, and separately shows offline and online expansion. Offline proprietary APE grew 26% to 3,329 crore, while online proprietary APE increased 32% to 1,436 crore.

On the partnership side, Axis Bank remains the largest contributor, with APE rising to 4,481 crore in FY26 from 4,143 crore in FY25. But the strongest growth rate is in other partnerships, which grew to 1,107 crore in FY26 from 785 crore in FY25.

Capital, expenses, and profits: growth stayed profitable, but costs rose and PBT fell

The capital and cost indicators present a mixed picture.

Policyholder opex to gross written premium increased to 14.6% in FY26 from 13.6% in FY25. Solvency ratio (pre-dividend) declined to 194% from 201%, but remains above the 150% solvency limit referenced in the chart.

Profit before tax declined to 319 crore in FY26 from 448 crore in FY25, a 29% fall, despite the premium growth. The deck does not attribute this decline to specific drivers in narrative form, but it provides supporting operating disclosures such as the underwriting profit bridge, where new business strain widened to 3,075 crore in FY26 from 2,117 crore in FY25, while backbook surplus increased to 2,718 crore and shareholder surplus rose to 635 crore.

This combination is consistent with a business that is investing into new business growth while relying on backbook economics to fund part of that expansion.

AUM and investment positioning

Axis Max Life reported assets under management of 1,89,795 crore as of March 31, 2026, up 8% from 1,75,072 crore. The AUM split shown in the chart indicates linked AUM at 48 thousand crore and controlled AUM at 142 thousand crore.

The deck also provides an asset allocation view. In linked funds, equity exposure rose to 71% in FY26 (debt 29%). In traditional assets, debt remained dominant at 89% with equity at 11%. The presentation states that more than 95% of debt investments are in sovereign papers and AAA rated securities.

Customer and ESG disclosures

On customer outcomes, the deck highlights a death claims paid ratio of 99.70% based on audited financials for FY25. Persistency trends are disclosed under the revised IRDAI framework with a one-month lag, showing improvement at longer durations in FY26 versus FY25 for several cohorts.

The sustainability section outlines governance, data security certifications (ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 for Axis Max Life), and operational metrics such as gender diversity at 29.3% women in the workforce and an NPS of 59 year to date March 2026.

Key takeaway

Axis Max Life’s FY26 update is a growth and value story first: total APE up 20%, VNB up 26%, margin up 120 bps, and private market share rising to 10.4%. The direction of product mix is also clear, with protection and health and annuity scaling faster than the base.

However, the year also carried visible costs. Profit before tax declined, the policyholder expense ratio increased, and the EV bridge shows a meaningful negative non-operating variance. For investors, the FY26 release frames a company leaning into growth through product and channel strategy, while keeping capital above regulatory thresholds and continuing to disclose sensitivities that can materially influence embedded value outcomes.