Janashakthi Life began in 1994 as Sri Lanka’s first specialised life insurer, built on a single conviction: that quality protection shouldn’t depend on where in the country a customer happened to live. A year after its founding, the company expanded into general insurance while staying close to that idea, launching a rapid regionalisation drive under the banner “insurance at your doorstep” that gave it one of the widest branch networks in the industry. In 2001, it took a controlling stake in the National Insurance Corporation, a business roughly twice its size, more than doubling its turnover overnight and pushing it from a mid-sized private insurer into the country’s top tier.
By the time regulation forced Sri Lankan insurers to separate their life and general businesses in 2015, Janashakthi had grown well beyond either line on its own. When the general insurance arm was sold off three years later, the company itself described what came next simply as “back to our roots”: a standalone life insurer again, competing on the same ground it had opened thirty years earlier. The years since have been about what the brand could do with that focus back in its own hands. Janashakthi Life now counts over 2.5 million customers, a market capitalisation of Rs29.3 billion, and a branch network spanning 76 locations across the country, scale that has made it the sole insurer Brand Finance names among Sri Lanka’s ten fastest-growing brands, ahead of larger, better-capitalised competitors.
The company closed the past year with Gross Written Premium of Rs8.65 billion and net profit of Rs3.47 billion, on the back of a First Year Premium line that grew 64% the year before and a Corporate Business channel that has already doubled in size. Behind those numbers sits a technology platform the company has built and owned since 2017, rather than licensed, and an AI-driven onboarding system built to reach customers in their own language and their own homes. Ravi Liyanage, Director and Chief Executive Officer at Janashakthi Life, and Namalee Silva, Chief Business Officer at Janashakthi Life, share the strategy behind that growth, the technology underpinning it, and where the company goes from here.
Janashakthi Life sits within JXG, providing access to a broader financial services ecosystem. How important has that ecosystem been in the growth of Janashakthi Life, and what capabilities has the brand developed beyond those group synergies?
Ravi Liyanage: Being part of the JXG ecosystem has been a significant enabler of our growth, providing the strength, stability and governance of a diversified financial services group while reinforcing stakeholder confidence. The Group’s broader financial acumen and accumulated endowment of knowledge in the financial domain has shaped how we behave and grow as a company.
At the same time, we’ve built our own identity and capacity as a standalone strong household brand in every nook and corner of Sri Lanka over decades. Brand strength is well represented by over 2.5 million customers out of 12 million insurable public in Sri Lanka, market capitalisation of Rs29.3 billion at 1.76 times our net asset value of Rs16.6 billion, an extended branch network of over 76 branches to represent across all geographical locations, over 1,000 connected and dedicated human resource, and a life insurance portfolio of products to meet every life insurance need across all segments in the country.
A good example of what the ecosystem adds is on the investment side. Rather than building an in-house asset management function, we’ve outsourced management of our investment portfolio to First Capital Asset Management, part of the wider Janashakthi Group, since 2020. That gives us professional fund management from within our own ecosystem, rather than having to look outside it.
What we’ve built on our own side is just as important. Our branch network closed 2024 at 76 locations, including a new branch in Mathugama, Our advisor base reflects the same strength. This year, seventy-three of our advisors qualified for Million Dollar Round Table membership, the global benchmark for top-performing life insurance professionals. Eight of them reached the higher Court of the Table tier, and four reached Top of the Table, MDRT’s highest distinction. We were also certified a Great Place to Work, with employee satisfaction and engagement at 88%.
The financial picture backs that up. Total equity grew to Rs16.6 billion and total assets to Rs40.4 billion in 2025, return on equity held steady at 21%, and our Capital Adequacy Ratio strengthened to 284%. Our share price gained 135% over the year to close at a record Rs129.5. None of this happened overnight. We were incorporated in 1992, and 2024 marked our 30th anniversary as we head into our fourth decade. Along the way we became the first insurer in Sri Lanka to offer worldwide hospitalisation coverage, the first to cover AIDS, the first to give war cover to the armed forces, and the first private insurer to open an overseas branch, in the Maldives. In 2021 we produced 109 MDRT winners in a single year for the first time in our history. That history is what gives the standalone brand its weight today, even as we continue to draw on everything the wider Group makes possible.
Janashakthi Life closed 2025 with a GWP of Rs8.65 billion and net profit of Rs3.47 billion within five years of being a standalone insurer. What do you attribute that growth rate to, and what is the hardest part of sustaining it?
Ravi: Closing 2025 with Gross Written Premiums of Rs8.65 billion and a net profit of Rs3.47 billion reflects years of disciplined execution and our commitment to building a high-quality, sustainable franchise rather than pursuing growth for its own sake. Our performance was driven by a well thought-out, highly structured and well-disciplined distribution channel and building of sustainable capacity. Further GWP was also driven by need based competitive products and services targeted towards identified market segments with an intimate value proposition to fulfill their insurance needs.
Having onboarded our policyholders, risk in our policyholder portfolio is professionally underwritten, and liability in the policyholder portfolio is managed prudently. A meticulous approach to asset and liability mismatch, backed by farsighted financial management to optimise returns on investment, has paved the way to reach consistent surplus generation and profitability. We’re confident in sustaining the success and growth achieved over the last few years, provided the Sri Lankan economy stays as it is without much vulnerability to external geopolitical influences. Apart from those geopolitical challenges, all other variables are largely within our control.
That discipline was already visible the year before. In 2025, our First Year Premium grew 67%, which was the main driver behind a 31.5% rise in overall GWP. We held that growth without letting costs run ahead of it. Our Net Acquisition Cost ratio stayed flat at 30% even as volumes rose. That same year, our Corporate Business channel doubled and now makes up 46% of our revenue, giving us a second real growth engine alongside our core retail life business. We also closed the year with a surplus of Rs447 million, ahead of what we had budgeted, which is the kind of result that builds confidence without inviting complacency.
IFRS 17 replaces premium-based reporting with contract-level profitability measurement. A chance to optimise returns. What does preparing for that standard do about how you currently measure performance?
Ravi: We report under IFRS 4, but IFRS 17 is changing the way we look at the business. It takes us beyond premium growth and gives us a view of how value is created, how profit emerges and where performance may come under pressure.
That matters because whilst top line growth is important, we need to know whether new business is priced, whether margins are sustainable and whether capital is being directed to the right products and customer segments. IFRS 17 brings that discipline forward. It will allow us to identify weaker-performing business earlier, take corrective action sooner and make better choices about product design, pricing and portfolio mix.
For a life insurer, this is especially important. A policy sold today can represent a commitment lasting decades. Profit should be understood through the service delivered and the risks carried, not simply the premium collected at inception.
The transition is demanding. It requires stronger data, new actuarial models, robust systems and coordination across the business. Those investments are well under way. Our immediate priority is a sound implementation, but the lasting benefit will be better decisions, stronger capital discipline and a clearer line of sight between growth, profitability and the promises we make to customers.
Janashakthi Life built its software suite and mobile platform in-house, valued at Rs440 million. What does owning it, rather than licensing it, mean for how fast you move and how well you protect customer data?
Ravi: Our software is built in keeping with our organisational vision, direction and operational strategy. Since it’s homegrown, it caters well within our operational domain. That said, our systems are managed and reviewed by external professional parties on a regular basis, to upgrade capacity and governance. We also deploy outside expertise and complementary software that integrates with our core system, to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and to accommodate flexibility and modern digitalisation. Customer data is certainly protected and used for better customer service, within the guidelines, policies, and processes we have in place to govern customer data. We remain committed to fulfilling all policies set forth by governing authorities in this space.
This isn’t a recent decision. We launched the first phase of this home-grown, integrated platform back in 2017, connecting our branch network end to end, and everything we’ve built since has extended that same foundation rather than replaced it. In 2024 alone we allocated Rs158 million to IT hardware and software enhancements, on top of a separate Rs165 million committed to a next-generation infrastructure upgrade that will carry us through the next five years as part of our 2025-2030 digital strategy, with cybersecurity as one of its explicit priorities. In 2025, Janashakthi invested Rs236 million in digital transformation initiatives, including technology infrastructure, AI, robotics, digital platforms, and operational resilience, while a further Rs265 million was invested in AI-enabled digital technology as part of the development of the new Head Office.
That control extends to how we run the business day to day, not just the technology itself. We rolled out Robotic Process Automation and a new Performance Management Solution across our core systems in 2024, changes that are far easier to make when the platform is yours to shape rather than licensed from someone else. On data protection specifically, we closed 2025 with no privacy violations and no data loss reported, and that discipline was recognised externally too: we were recognised in the Technology Resilient Company of the Year category at the ISACA Sri Lanka Digital Trust Awards 2024, an independent assessment of exactly this kind of resilience. That’s really the clearest proof point for what owning our own platform gives us: speed to build and adapt on our own terms, and a track record on customer data that stands up to outside scrutiny, not just our own.
Successfully deploying an AI-driven ecosystem has enabled a 100% remote onboarding rate with trilingual mobile capability. What does that remote infrastructure allow the company to improve the delivery efficiency in the overall insurance ecosystem?
Ravi: Trilingual representation removes language barriers for underserved markets, since remote onboarding is done in a customer’s preferred language. This removes a critical barrier to purchase in those markets. Our interface also reaches underserved markets through mobile capability, onboarding customers in their preferred location. Our overall insurance ecosystem has been shaped by AI capabilities, giving us greater capacity in onboarding, claims processing, and servicing of policyholders. Capturing information, policy integration, tracking claims status and documentation, real-time claims navigation, and preferred language for communication are some of the key features in this process.
Concretely, this ecosystem is built out of a few distinct tools rather than one single platform. Video KYC Onboarding handles the remote verification piece. Heart Guard, our fully digital life insurance plan focused on proactive wellness protection, was really our pioneering step in applying digital transformation directly to the customer experience rather than just to our backend operations. And Drive Me brings a gamified layer into how our sales teams engage with the process. These tools were part of a broader push that delivered Rs166 million in savings during the year, proof that the efficiency gains are showing up on the balance sheet, not just in the customer experience.
The operational numbers tell the same story. AI-driven policy underwriting grew 40% during the year, and we automated 10 manual processes across the business, which fed directly into faster policy processing and claims settlement. AI-powered claims assessment in particular has meaningfully improved processing speed, leading to faster approvals. Our Referral Management Solution was utilised, and mobile app usage and online engagement grew 52% across the ecosystem as a whole, which is really the clearest sign that customers are actually using these tools, not just aware they exist.
Janashakthi Life undertook a Customer Experience Transformation initiative this past year. What did that involve, and how has it affected customer trust and satisfaction?
Namalee Silva: Over the past year, we undertook a comprehensive Customer Experience Transformation initiative, with the objective of enhancing customer satisfaction, strengthening customer loyalty, and improving our operational effectiveness. The transformation has been driven by customer insights, technology enablement, process optimisation, and employee accountability, and together these have created a more consistent and seamless customer experience.
Namalee Silva, Chief Business Officer at Janashakthi Life
A key part of this has been embedding customer centricity across the organisation through a structured Customer Service Excellence framework, so that every team understands its role in delivering customer value. Customer experience isn’t the responsibility of a single department here, it’s a shared organisational responsibility. Alongside that, we strengthened our Voice of the Customer programme and implemented a modern Customer Relationship Management platform, which has helped us better understand customer needs, respond proactively to concerns, and use customer insights to drive continuous improvement.
Those initiatives have contributed to improvements across our key customer experience metrics, including Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Effort Score, and Touchpoint NPS, and we’re seeing that reflected in growing customer trust and stronger advocacy. We see customer experience as an ongoing journey rather than a destination. We remain focused on leveraging technology, data, and innovation to simplify customer journeys, deepen customer engagement, and deliver differentiated experiences in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Achieving nearly 100% digital adoption through your “Green Insurance” initiative is a landmark. What did this change about the speed and cost of getting a policy to someone who previously depended on a branch visit?
Namalee: The Green Insurance initiative has changed how customers access life insurance, replacing paper-based processes with a digital one. Previously, customers had to visit a branch or coordinate multiple physical interactions before a policy could be issued. Today, that same journey can be completed digitally, letting customers purchase policies from wherever they are. This has improved operational efficiency, reducing policy issuance turnaround time by 74% while generating approximately Rs220 million in cost savings through process automation and workflow optimisation. It has also improved accessibility, ensuring customers in every part of the country receive the same service without geographical limitations.
Your mobile app interface enables claim settlements within 48 hours; how are you leveraging this digital inclusivity to increase penetration in underserved rural segments?
Namalee: Digital inclusion is a key pillar of our growth strategy because we believe quality financial protection should be accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live. Our multilingual mobile application, available in Sinhala, Tamil and English, together with our Agent Virtual Office (AVO) platform, enables customers across the island to access essential insurance services without needing to visit a branch.
From submitting documents and tracking policy information to receiving claim settlements within 48 hours, the platform has simplified the customer journey and reduced time and effort. This is particularly valuable for customers in rural and underserved communities, where access to physical service locations may be limited. By combining technology with our islandwide branch and advisor network, we are extending the reach of life insurance and improving customer engagement. The growing adoption of our mobile platform, reflected in a 58% increase in active users, shows that customers are increasingly using these digital services.
“Previously, customers had to visit a branch or coordinate multiple physical interactions before a policy could be issued. Today, that same journey can be completed digitally, letting customers purchase policies from wherever they are. This has improved operational efficiency, reducing policy issuance turnaround time by 74% while generating approximately Rs220 million in cost savings.”
How has your Customer 360 system helped you find and reconnect with customers whose agents have left, and how has this helped keep your renewal income stable?
Namalee: At Janashakthi Life, we recognise that customer relationships should always be with the company rather than dependent on a single point of contact. Our Customer 360 platform supports this by giving our teams a single, integrated view of every customer, including policy information, service history and past interactions.
This visibility allows us to deliver faster, more personalised service while ensuring continuity of care, even when there are changes in agency representation. Supported by our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and dedicated customer engagement processes, we’re able to maintain proactive communication, respond to customer needs more effectively and ensure policyholders continue to receive support throughout their insurance journey.
Beyond improving operational efficiency, the Customer 360 approach has strengthened customer trust and contributed to improved policy persistence by fostering long-term relationships. As reflected in our customer experience transformation programme, this approach has also driven improvements in customer satisfaction and advocacy, supporting stronger renewal income growth.