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SBI Life and State Bank of India are valued in different ways.
SBI Life is valued on embedded value and State Bank of India on excess return, because the two businesses do not work the same way. Below, each is set out on its own record and its own value drivers; the two fair values sit in the full valuations.
- Valuation method: SBI Life on embedded value; State Bank of India on excess return.
- Size: State Bank of India is worth about 5.5 times SBI Life on the stock market.
- Record: SBI Life's filed history in the data used here is too short to compare year by year, so only State Bank of India's record is summarised: revenue went from FY2019 to FY2026 at about 12% a year.
- What to watch: value of new business at SBI Life; return on equity versus its own history at State Bank of India.
| SBI Life | State Bank of India | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ₹1,790 | ₹1,080 |
| Market cap | ₹1.80L Cr | ₹9.97L Cr |
| P/E | 67.6 | 11.0 |
| P/B | 9.41 | 1.62 |
| Fair value 🔒 sign in | ₹0,000 | ₹0,000 |
| Upside 🔒 sign in | +00% | +00% |
| Valued on | Embedded value | Excess return |
01Two businesses
Life insurance through India's biggest bank
SBI Life Insurance is a subsidiary of State Bank of India and one of India's largest private life insurers by new premiums. It sells savings, protection, annuity and pension policies, mostly through SBI's vast branch network, with a growing agency force alongside.
The bank the whole country runs on
State Bank of India is the country's largest bank by deposits, loans, branches and customers, and it is majority-owned by the Government of India. It lends to everyone from farmers and home buyers to the largest corporates, and its group includes SBI Life, SBI Card, the SBI Mutual Fund asset manager and SBI General Insurance.
02The records side by side
SBI Life's filed history in the data used here is too short to compare year by year, so only State Bank of India's record is summarised: revenue went from FY2019 to FY2026 at about 12% a year.
Full ten-year tables and charts are on each company's page: SBI Life · State Bank of India.
03What each price assumes
Work backwards from each share price and you can see what buyers are taking for granted — the rate each company must sustain to justify what it costs, against what its own record supports.
04What decides each one's value
- Value of new businessThe value each year's new policies add drives growth.
- Product mixMore protection and non-participating products lift margins.
- Return on equity versus its own historySBI's value depends on whether recent returns hold through a full credit cycle — something it has not shown before.
- Credit costsBecause the book is so large, even a modest rise in fresh bad loans would show up quickly in profit.
05What could go wrong
- RegulationRules on commissions and surrender values can squeeze margins.
- Channel dependenceHeavy reliance on SBI's branches concentrates risk.
- A turn in corporate creditSBI's history shows how fast large-company defaults can erase years of profit.
- Staff and pension costsWage settlements at a public-sector bank are less flexible and can lift costs in step.
06Which is better value?
Sign in free to see which trades further below its worth
- ✓Both fair values per share — each on the method that fits the business
- ✓Every step of both workings — growth, margins and cost of capital, with sources
- ✓Bull, base and bear cases — for each company
- ✓Downloadable reports — the full write-up for each, yours to keep
08Questions people ask
Is SBI Life or State Bank of India better value?
That turns on how far each share trades from its estimated fair value. Both figures, with every step of the working, are in the full valuations, free to view once you sign in. On the public numbers, SBI Life trades at 67.6 times earnings and 9.41 times book value, and State Bank of India at 11.0 times earnings and 1.62 times book value — but multiples alone mislead when two businesses work differently, which is why each is valued on the method that fits it.
What is the difference between SBI Life and State Bank of India?
SBI Life Insurance is a subsidiary of State Bank of India and one of India's largest private life insurers by new premiums. State Bank of India is the country's largest bank by deposits, loans, branches and customers, and it is majority-owned by the Government of India.
Are SBI Life and State Bank of India valued the same way?
No. SBI Life is valued on embedded value and State Bank of India on excess return, because forcing one model onto both would misstate at least one of them.
What does today's price assume for SBI Life and State Bank of India?
Worked backwards from the share price, SBI Life needs about 14.8× new-business multiple and State Bank of India about 14.8% return on equity, against 25.0× and 16.1% in their own records.