India could surpass SA as Sanlam’s top earnings driver – CFO

India could eventually surpass South Africa as the largest contributor to earnings at Sanlam, showing the significant growth potential of the market. Abigail Mukhuba, Sanlam CFO, told Moneyweb in an interview after the group’s annual results announcement on Thursday that the company sees its strongest long-term growth prospects in India and the rest of Africa. “Geographically, we’re focusing on Asia and Africa,” she says, adding that the group typically describes its strategy in terms of three key growth vectors – South Africa, Pan-Africa and India.

Although South Africa remains a core market, it is also relatively mature, with high insurance penetration compared with many emerging markets. “We want to grow the Indian business to scale – the opportunities for growth there are immense and much larger than the mature market that is South Africa,” Mukhuba says. Sanlam’s Indian operations are already making a meaningful contribution to the group’s earnings, accounting for roughly 10% to 15% of its earnings base, according to Mukhuba.

Over time, the scale of the Indian business could become large enough to rival – or even surpass – the contribution from Sanlam’s home market. “Our investment in India is in the credit business, the life and insurance business,” Mukhuba says. A key example is the group’s stake in Shriram Finance Limited (SFL), the listed credit arm of the broader Shriram ecosystem in India.