With the latest declaration, the cumulative bonus announced by the company over the past 24 years has reached ₹18,377 crore.
Participating, or with-profit, insurance policies allow policyholders to share in the surplus generated by an insurer’s participating fund. Bonuses declared under such policies are generally not paid out immediately and are typically payable at maturity, surrender, death claim settlement, or as specified under the terms of the policy.
These bonuses are in addition to the guaranteed benefits offered under the plan.
According to the company, its participating fund grew to ₹79,003 crore in FY26 from ₹74,119 crore in FY25, representing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% over the past decade.
The insurer’s annual bonus declarations have risen steadily in recent years, increasing from ₹1,469 crore in FY22 to ₹1,604 crore in FY23, ₹1,826 crore in FY24, ₹2,135 crore in FY25 and ₹2,530 crore in FY26.
Axis Max Life said its participating products offer multiple forms of bonuses, including cash bonuses, reversionary bonuses and terminal bonuses. The products also provide features such as bonus accumulation, partial withdrawal of accumulated bonuses, paid-up additions and premium offset options.
The announcement comes amid a series of bonus declarations by life insurers. Earlier, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance announced a bonus of ₹1,398 crore for around 7.7 lakh participating policyholders for FY26, while Generali Central Life Insurance declared a bonus of ₹102.54 crore for more than 95,000 policyholders.
Bharti AXA Life Insurance also announced a bonus payout of ₹205 crore for policyholders holding participating insurance plans.
Participating funds remain an important component of the life insurance sector, with insurers using annual bonus declarations as a mechanism to distribute a portion of the surplus generated from these funds to eligible policyholders.
