Motor-TP recovery at a two-year low
| Peer | Status | P/E | ROE | Mkt cap | Why we do not hold it (approved text) | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICICI Lombard General Insurance | Held | 30.56 | 17.90% | 74,212 Cr | Motor-TP recovery at a two-year low | |
| Go Digit General Insurance | Not held | n/a | n/a | n/a | Go Digit (48x PE, 5.1x P/B, ROE 12.2%, Q1FY27 PAT -38%) is motor-heavy and more exposed to the SC TP ruling at a higher multiple and lower ROE; ICICI Lombard is at 30x with 17.8% FY26 ROE and a diversified health/commercial book. | Screener · Tijori |
| Star Health & Allied Insurance | Not held | n/a | n/a | n/a | Star Health (39x PE, ROE 7.6%) is a mono-line retail-health insurer with structurally high loss ratios and no motor-TP repricing optionality; ICICI Lombard offers higher ROE at a lower multiple and is gaining retail-health share (+51% FY26 vs Star +11%). | Screener · Tijori |
| New India Assurance | Not held | n/a | n/a | n/a | New India (49x PE, ROE 4.9%, Q1FY27 loss Rs 239 cr with motor loss Rs 1,297 cr) has a 128%-type motor COR and PSU cost structure; ICICI Lombard's 106.6% motor COR and 2.71x solvency make it the quality way to play a TP tariff hike. | Screener · Tijori |
Peer numbers are shown only where the peer is in the security master (fundamentals pulled); "n/a" otherwise — a peer is not added to the data pull without a research request. Reasons are quoted from the one-pager (8 Sep 2026).
HDFC Life is the quality benchmark but grew VNB only 2% in FY26 and trades at a premium for it; ICICI Prudential Life has a weaker bank channel. LIC is cheap for structural reasons — product mix, agency cost and a 57% share that is only going one way. In general insurance, Go Digit is a 4–5x-book growth story without ICICI Lombard's underwriting record, Star Health has the worst-in-class loss ratio in retail health and New India Assurance has a combined ratio above 110%.
All sectors we avoid or underweight →ICICI Lombard (3.1%, Cyclical) is the largest position and the one clients will ask about: the market leader in private general insurance, 18% ROE through the cycle, bought after the third-party ruling knocked the stock to a two-year low. It is classified Cyclical because the thesis is a recovery in the motor-TP loss ratio, not steady-state compounding. Max Financial (2.9%, Core) owns Axis Max Life, the fastest-growing large private life insurer (VNB +26% in FY26) with Axis Bank's distribution now contractually locked in; the 128x P/E on the sheet is a holdco artefact — on ~1.9x FY27E EV it is priced with peers for faster growth. SBI Life (1.1%, Core) is the lowest-cost, highest-persistency franchise in the industry with SBI's 23,000 branches behind it.
| Auto Insurance - Market Share | 10.49 % | as of Jul 26 |
| Crop Insurance - Market Share | 5.92 % | as of Sep 23 |
| Engineering Insurance - Market Share | 19 % | as of Jun 25 |
| Gross Direct Premium Income - Market Share | 8.99 % | as of Jul 26 |
| Health Insurance - Market Share | 7.08 % | as of Jul 26 |
| Liability Insurance - Market Share | 17.10 % | as of Jun 25 |
| Marine Insurance - Market Share | 20.70 % | as of Jun 25 |
| Travel Insurance - Market Share | 21 % | as of Mar 19 |