PB Fintech’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Policybazaar Insurance Brokers, has been granted In-Principle approval to upgrade its license from Direct Insurance Broker (Life & General) to Composite Insurance Broker by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on February 16th, 2024, according to a stock exchange filing done by the company.
This is in alignment with the IRDAI (Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2018. The company has stated that this will allow it “to deepen the insurance penetration in the country by bringing more technology, process control and data analytics-based innovation into reinsurance capacity.”
This upgraded licence would allow Policybazaar to undertake a wider range of services like risk management, selling reinsurance products and maintaining claims data, apart from just being a pure play insurance buying platform.
PB Fintech reported its first-ever net profit of Rs 37.2 crore for Q2 2023 in January and also reported profits of Rs 4.2 crore for the first nine months of FY24.
The firm’s revenue from operations increased by 43% to Rs 871 crore in Q3 2023 compared to previous quarters.
The core online marketplaces of the company, Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, reported a 39% increase in combined revenues at Rs 593 crore.
According to comments made to the Economic Times (India), Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and Cofounder, PB Fintech said, “The company is looking to return a part of its capital to shareholders either through a share buyback or dividends. The company expects cash reserves to touch Rs 7,500 crore in 2027.
“The company will look to apply for a payments aggregator licence to improve efficiencies around instant settlements to customers in case of cancellation of insurance policies.”
