Policybazaar operator PB Fintech’s Q2 loss narrows to ₹187 crore

• PB Fintech, operator of the insurance aggregator platform Policybazaar reported a sequential decline in its Q2 net loss to ₹187 crore.
  
• Its insurance premium per enquiry – which is the amount of money customers pay as premium – declined to ₹1,505 in Q2 from ₹1,595 in Q1.
  
• “Bima Sugam could be a UPI moment for the insurance industry,” the company said.
  

PB Fintech, operator of the insurance aggregator platform Policybazaar said that its losses narrowed to ₹187 crore for the second quarter, on November 7. For the first quarter, these losses stood at ₹204 crore.

The company’s revenue from operations rose 13.5% QoQ to ₹573 crore. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss however widened to ₹226 crore from ₹212 crore in the previous quarter.

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

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

Its insurance premium per enquiry – which is the amount of money customers pay as premium – declined to ₹1,505 in Q2 from ₹1,595 in Q1.

“We are at an annual run rate of insurance premium of over ₹10,000 crore growing at 79% year-on-year. We stay confident of being adjusted EBITDA positive by Q4 this year,” the company said in its exchange filing, while adding that its customer satisfaction rate stood at 86% during the quarter.

Region-wise, North and South India together accounted for 77% of the company’s business, while tier 2 and tier 3 cities together held a 71% share in this aspect.

Here’s PB Fintech’s Q2 in numbers:


Source: Company reports

Insurance premium run rate crosses ₹10,000 crore annually

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

“Once we deliver ₹100 crore of profits, we will disclose what we will do with this cash. Our cash and receivables will not go down from here,” the company said during its earnings call, talking about its plans to use its cash and bank balance pile of over ₹2,800 crore.

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

Talking about Bima Sugam – a new portal being worked on by the insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) – the company said that it could do to the insurance sector 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 data safety concerns of customers as well as providing insurance aggregators like Policybazaar access to more data layers.

Bima Sugam portal will connect customers and companies, providing them with a one-stop solution for buying and selling policies, claims settlement, and accessing policies purchased.

Paisabazaar’s loan disbursal run rate crosses ₹12,000 crore annually

Paisabazaar, which is PB Fintech’s credit card aggregation and credit platform, has crossed ₹12,000 crore in loan disbursal run rate annually.

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

Overall, the Paisabazaar portal gets 1.9 million monthly credit card enquiries, according to the company, with customers from over 1,000 cities across India.

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