A like-for-like valuation of LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA (LICI) and State Bank of India (SBIN), each built from its own filed accounts and set side by side — price against estimated worth, on the same measures.
LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA is priced further below its estimated worth than State Bank of India.
LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA trades 132% below our estimate of fair value, against 49% below our estimate of fair value for State Bank of India. A wider discount is not automatically the safer buy — it can equally mean the market sees a risk the accounts do not show yet — but on price against estimated value, LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA is the cheaper of the two today.
Every figure below is drawn from each company's own filed statements. Estimated fair value is the per-share figure our engine will stand behind; where a business needs a model that does not reduce to one number, it is shown as “—”.
| LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIALICI | State Bank of IndiaSBIN | |
|---|---|---|
| Current price | ₹392 | ₹968 |
| Market cap | ₹5.00L Cr | ₹8.94L Cr |
| Estimated fair value | ₹906 | ₹1,444 |
| Upside to fair value | +132% | +49% |
| P/E | 8.2 | 10.4 |
| P/B | 2.79 | 1.45 |
| Return on equity | —% | —% |
| Debt to equity | — | — |
| Valued on | Embedded value — the correct lens for a life insurer | Excess return — the correct lens for a bank |
Both state-controlled financial giants, on very different balance sheets.
Worked backwards from today's share price: the rate each company must sustain to justify what it costs, against what its own ten-year record supports.
Same method, same filed accounts — each of these works both companies through to a fair value.
LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA trades 132% below our estimate of fair value, against 49% below our estimate of fair value for State Bank of India. A wider discount is not automatically the safer buy — it can equally mean the market sees a risk the accounts do not show yet — but on price against estimated value, LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA is the cheaper of the two today.
Each company is valued from its own filed financial statements — ten years of results — using the method that fits that business, then set beside the other on price, valuation multiples, return on equity and what today's share price already assumes. It is a like-for-like comparison of the workings, not investment advice.
No — and that is deliberate. LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA is valued on embedded value — the correct lens for a life insurer, State Bank of India on excess return — the correct lens for a bank, because the two businesses do not work the same way. Forcing one model onto both would misstate at least one of them, so each is valued on the lens that fits it and only the conclusions are compared.