New Delhi, April 15 -- Investors cheered ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co.'s March quarter (Q4FY26) results, sending the stock up around 3% to Rs.560. Its annualized premium equivalent (APE) stood at Rs.3,830 crore, up 9.3% year-on-year - a sharp improvement from 3.6% growth in Q3. Notably, APE had declined in the first two quarters of FY26.

The growth was driven largely by protection APE (term-insurance APE), which rose 30% year-on-year to Rs.613 crore. In life insurance, protection products carry higher profitability than savings products.

Within protection, retail and group (usually corporate employees or micro-finance institutions) are the two sub-segments, with retail being more profitable. Retail protection grew a striking 60%, ...