ICICI Prudential Life has the best ESG rating

Keeping ESG vision as a priority, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has focused initiatives in place for each dimension of the ESG framework under the Environment (Transitioning towards Green and Sustainable Operations), Social (Empowering Employees, Adopting Customer Centricity, and Helping Communities) and Governance (Enabling Robust Governance Structure and Effectively Managing Risks) pillars. As a result of these initiatives ICICI Prudential Life Insurance received an ESG Risk Rating of 16.9 and was assessed by Sustainalytics to be at Low risk of experiencing material financial impact arising from ESG factors. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has received a rating of AA (on a scale of AAA-CCC) in the MSCI ESG Ratings assessment. The Company believes sustainability is intrinsic to life insurance as the Company serves long-term savings and protection needs. 

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is committed to integrating sustainability with their business processes and as a way of doing business. They have been making significant progress since we commenced on their ESG journey in 2020. This year they expanded the terms of reference of their Board CSR Committee to include review of sustainability activities and key ESG related disclosures.

3 pillars of the Company's sustainability framework

• Environmental - Leaving the planet a better place for the next generation
• Social - Giving back to society
• Governance - Transparency in functioning

The Company's focus areas

1. Human Capital
2. Responsible investing
3. Governance and business ethics
4. Data privacy and security
5. Access to finance and CSR
6. Environment

Key highlights on each of the ESG focus area

• Human Capital

• Strengthening Capacity

• Employee strength increased by 15% to capacitise for growth; 43% freshers hired 
• Invested in building skill depth in specialist roles
• High quality leadership team
• 82% leadership stability (served the Company for more than 10 years)
• 96% leadership depth (have done more than 3 job rotations)

• Building Capability

• Structured phygital learning programs: Over 1.3 million learning hours
• Over 12,000 employees in sales and operations certified
• Skill mapping and professional certifications for specialist roles
• Structured management development programs for all levels of management

• Catalysing competitive advantage through Culture

• Multiple employee communication & engagement initiatives to align employees to Vision & Values, Cornerstones & Strategic imperatives
• Diversity & Inclusion (D&I):
• D&I policy & framework instituted; Diversity Council formalised 
• Gender diversity: 29% in FY2023 up from 27% in FY2022; 39% in non-sales roles
• Focused interventions to promote physical, mental and financial well-being of employees
• Robust grievance redressal framework; Human Rights policy formalised
• Employee survey: 90%+ score on advocacy, alignment, mood, learning & growth opportunities 
• Differentiated rewards on performance & potential; robust succession planning

• Responsible investing 

Three pronged approach

• Stewardship policy & process

1. Engaging with investee companies
2. Disclosing voting actions

• ESG integration

1. Responsible Investing framework incorporated into Corporate Investment Policy
2. Subscribed to ESG ratings by an external service provider to assess investee companies on ESG
3. First Indian insurance company to become a signatory to UNPRI (United Nations Principles For Responsible Investment) in the financial year 2022

• ICICI Prudential Sustainable Equity Fund – first ever fund by an Indian life insurance company

1. Benchmarked against NSE 100 ESG Index

• ~47% of our AUM invested in Infrastructure/housing Government bonds i.e. ₹ 363 billion & ₹ 821 billion respectively

• Governance & data privacy

• Governance structure

• Board composition

1. Over 50% comprise independent directors including Chairman
2. Over 50% of the various Committees comprises independent directors or non-executive directors and chaired by independent directors only

• Board Diversity

1. Policy on Board diversity and criteria on appointment of Directors
2. Woman Independent Director

• Part of Board Nomination & Remuneration Committee (BNRC)Evaluation framework

• Compensation framework

• Compensation Policy

1. Based on meritocracy & fairness within the framework of prudent risk management

• Governance
• Compensation of whole time directors(WTD) approved by BNRC, Board and IRDAI Alignment

1. WTD compensation aligned to KPIs including financial & nonfinancial metrics along with risk parameters; capping & deferral of bonus; malus and clawback provisions

• Information/cyber security

• Data Privacy Policy

1. Covering collection, usage, storage, retention, sharing only for specific purposes with consent and security related aspects

• Cyber Security Framework

1. Information & Cyber Security Policy
2. ISO 27001: ISMS certification

• Risk management

• Risk Management Policy

1. Board, BRMC & ERC oversight
2. Covers financial, operational, sustainability & reputational risk

• Mitigating risk

1. Framework sets out limits and controls for risk exposure
2. Risk-based internal audit framework 
3. ISO 22301: BCM certification

• Business ethics/compliances

• Policies for - Code of Conduct; POSH; ABC Policy and AML Policy
• Compliance Policy
• Framework for Managing Conflicts of Interest
• Insider Trading Code
• Whistle Blower Policy

• Access to Finance

• 61.8 million lives impacted by micro insurance products (77.2 million lives total) 
• 86.6%: One of the best 13th month persistency ratios in industry
• 24x7 customer service architecture
• 92.5% self-help transactions using the digital platform
• Highest claim amount settled for 8 consecutive years (Individual death claims for private life insurance till FY2022) with 1.21 days average TAT (Average turnaround time (TAT) for non-investigated claims from receipt of last requirement) in FY2023
• Providing financial safety net to society: 13,656 retail individual death claims settled & 232,617 group claims settled
• Insurance awareness campaigns, focusing on the need and importance of life insurance along with product suitability
• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ranked as the best life insurance provider in India – Insurance CuES (Customer Experience Score)* 2023, an annual research released by Hansa Research
• Robust policy & framework for grievance redressal

• CSR

• ₹ 39.6 million spent for CSR initiatives
• Over 831 underprivileged youth trained through skill development program through ICICI Academy for Skills
• “Listen to your body” – A CSR campaign via which the Company educated consumers to pay attention to the early symptoms of critical health issues, go for regular health check-ups, take necessary action and be financially prepared to win over critical health issues - 18 million consumers reached through this consumer awareness and education program
• 265 underprivileged patients supported on Cancer and cardiac treatment
• Over 350 underprivileged children supported on improving health outcomes
• Over 1,000 employees participated in employee volunteering programs

• Environment

• Environment policy formulated, demonstrating Company’s commitment to environmental protection and reduction of its carbon footprint
• Sustainability consultant onboarded for environment initiatives and SBTi4 targets
• Scope-1, Scope-2 and partial Scope-3 carbon emissions calculated and vetted by external Sustainability consultant
• Total Carbon Footprint at 12,704 tonnes in FY2023 compared to 16,957 in FY2022 reduction by 25%
• 99% of new business applications logged digitally
• 95% shareholders communicated with digitally
• Green energy in some Mumbai offices; Application process initiated for green energy for other offices in Maharashtra

Link to the report: https://www.iciciprulife.com/content/dam/icicipru/about-us/FinancialInformation/esg-report/ESG_Report_FY2023.pdf