Policy Bazaar Operator PB Fintech’s Second Quarter Loss Narrows to ₹187 Crore

• PB Fintech, operator of the insurance aggregator platform Policybazaar, reported a sequential decline in its net loss in the second quarter to ₹187 crore.
• The insurance premium per application – the amount customers pay as a premium – fell from ₹1,595 in the first quarter from 1,505 in the second quarter.
• “Bima Sugam could be a UPI moment for the insurance industry,” the company said.

PB Fintech, operator of the insurance aggregator platform Policybazaar, said its losses for the second quarter, on Nov. 7, fell to ₹187 crore. For the first quarter, these losses amounted to ₹204 crore.

The company’s operating income increased by 13.5% on a quarterly basis to 573 crore. However, the loss of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to 226 crore from ₹212 crore in the previous quarter.

PB Fintech reported a sequential increase in its insurance premiums and credit payouts. While insurance premiums rose sequentially by 4.7% to 2,545 crore, credit payouts increased by 26% to 2,922 crore during the period.

During the September quarter, Policybazaar sold 1.9 million new policies, with a total of 29.8 million policies sold to date.

The insurance premium per application – the amount customers pay as a premium – fell from ₹1,595 in the first quarter from 1,505 in the second quarter.

“We have an annual insurance premium run rate of over ₹10,000 crore growing at 79% year over year. We are confident that EBITDA will be positive in the fourth quarter this year,” the company said in its bursary application, adding that customer satisfaction during the quarter was 86%.

In terms of region, North and South India together accounted for 77% of the company’s business, while Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities combined accounted for 71% in this aspect.

Here is PB Fintech’s Q2 in numbers:

Source: Company Reports

Insurance premium run rate exceeds ₹10,000 crore per year

The insurance aggregator said it has 12.8 million customers transacting, up 12.3 million from the previous quarter.

“Once we hit 100 crore in profit, we will announce what we will do with this money. Our cash and receivables will not go down from here,” the company said during its earnings call, as it spoke of its plans to use its cash and bank balance stack of more than ₹2,800 crore.

‘Bima Sugam could be a UPI moment for the insurance industry’

Speaking of Bima Sugam – a new portal being worked on by insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) – the company said it could do to the insurance industry what UPI has done for payments.

“Bima Sugam could be a UPI moment for the insurance industry,” the company said, adding that this new portal could address customer data security concerns and provide insurance aggregators such as Policybazaar with access to more layers of data.

The Bima Sugam portal connects customers and businesses and provides them with a total solution for buying and selling policies, claims handling and access to purchased policies.

Paisabazaar loan disbursement rate exceeds ₹12,000 crore per year

Paisabazaar, PB Fintech’s credit card aggregation and credit platform, has surpassed an annual payout ratio of ₹12,000 crore.

The aggregator has also reported that it now has 31 million credit score customers and 0.5 million credit cards issued on an annual basis.

In total, the Paisabazaar portal gets 1.9 million monthly credit card applications with customers from more than 1,000 cities across India, according to the company.

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