Aditya Birla Financial Services Group scales new peaks

•Consolidated revenues of the financial services businesses crossed Rs. 3043 crores for the nine months ended 31st December, 2008, as against Rs. 2016 crores during the corresponding period, last year - representing an impressive growth of 51%

•Both the life insurance and mutual fund businesses among Top 5 in the private sector in the country, with the life business achieving a market share of 8.5% (amongst private sector players) and the mutual fund business 8.7%.

MUMBAI, February 04, 2009: Aditya Birla Nuvo has a strong presence across various financial verticals that include life insurance, asset management, distribution & wealth management, security based lending, insurance broking & advisory services and private equity.

The results for Q3 2008-09 and the 9 months ended 31st December 2008 reflect continued strong momentum across all the verticals.

Commenting on the performance, Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive - Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group, said, "We continue to remain excited with the India story and the yet under penetrated financial services opportunity. We have created a strong foundation with the products, distribution, team and brand in place. And the results are showing. As a manufacturer and distributor of products, today, we can meet virtually all the financial needs of our target customer, just short of a savings or current account. We believe that looking ahead there is opportunity to implement learnings from the year gone by, while continuing to emerge much stronger."

Some of the highlights for the 9 months ended 31st December 2008, across the businesses, were as follows:

BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE

•An annualized premium of Rs. 1810 crores, as against Rs. 1222 crores for the same period last year.
•While the private players grew by 26%, BSLI achieved a 62% year on year growth.
•More significantly, this growth comes at a time when the industry has de-grown for the month of December 2008 by 23%.
•The growth has seen BSLI move to the 5th rank amongst private players within the industry.
•The market share has gone up to 8.5%, up from 6.6% in December 2007.
•Product gaps were filled with launch of Freedom 58 and Health Plan.

BIRLA SUN LIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY

•The average domestic assets under management grew to Rs. 36,565 crores as on December 31, 2008.
•While the industry registered a fall of 23%, BSLAMC grew by 20% year on year.
•BSLAMC increased its reach to a total of 116 branches, up from 74 in December 2007
•The market share has gone up to 8.7%, from 5.6% in December 2007.
•Fund performance remained strong with fixed income especially being noteworthy. Overall 17 out of 41 funds have got a 4/5 star rating from Value Research.

BIRLA SUN LIFE DISTRIBUTION

•The company's distribution presence was enhanced with the numbers of branches growing to 40 and number of channel partner increasing over the period
•Product gaps were filled with the introduction of Fixed Deposits, General Insurance and other investment products

BIRLA GLOBAL FINANCE

•Revenues grew from Rs. 80 crores to Rs. 120 crores, a YOY growth of 50%.
•PBT grew from Rs. 25 crores to Rs. 42 crores, a YOY growth of 65%.
•The general insurance advisory services business witnessed a YOY growth of 33% in premium placed as of YTD December 2008

ADITYA BIRLA CAPITAL ADVISORS

•The Private Equity business received SEBI approval in December 2008
•In Q1 2009, the company will launch its maiden fund.