22 January 2019 premium growth was restricted to 10% YoY (+15% for 9MFY19) due to a 15% YoY decline in first-year premium. Savings APE declined ~9% YoY to INR48.8b, while protection APE grew strongly by 100% YoY to INR4.6b, mainly led by group protection. Share of protection in total new business APE improved further to 8.6% (5.7% for 12MFY18, 7.9% in 1HFY18), while that of ULIPs stood at 80.9%. from 17.5% in 1HFY19, as management revised its cost assumption upward due to subdued growth in APE. 13 persistency declined 140bp YoY to 84.1%, while all other segments exhibited an improvement. Decline in 13 month persistency was largely seen in higher- ticket-size segment, but the company re-iterated that retail-linked surrender reduced by 30% YoY.