Policybazaar parent PB Fintech narrows Q4 losses to Rs 9 crore

PB Fintech, which operates insurance aggregator Policybazaar and credit marketplace Paisabazaar, on Monday reported a significantly narrower net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter at Rs 9 crore compared with Rs 220 crore a year earlier.

Operating revenue for the March quarter grew 61% from a year earlier to Rs 869 crore, the company said.

While the group’s existing business lines including Policybazaar and Paisabazaar contributed Rs 504 crore to the revenue, the rest came from new initiatives. The new initiatives include PB Partners, a platform to enable independent insurance sellers, and operations in the UAE.


Higher renewal income and new business, as well as higher efficiencies on the new business lines, drove the revenue growth in the last quarter, it said.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, revenue rose 80% to Rs 2,558 crore.

The company said it posted a positive consolidated adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 28 crore for the fourth quarter and was looking to clock a profit after tax in FY24.

PB Fintech executive chairman and chief executive Yashish Dahiya told ET in October that the company was on track to post a profit after tax in FY24.

The company also stated that it saw a positive impact in its savings business in March, given the tax changes announced in the union budget earlier this year.

“Moving forward any impact that you will see may be in our savings business. Now, as consumers move to simpler tax structures that can have an impact on our savings business. This is since tax is becoming a less reason (to invest in) savings,” said Dahiya in an analyst call on Monday.

At present, Policybazaar is clocking an annual run rate of over Rs 14,000 crore in insurance premium, the company said. “Our health and life (premiums) are better than the past,” Dahiya added.

As a part of the Budget, the government announced that for life insurance policies issued on or after 1 April 2023, the tax exemption on maturity benefits under Section 10(10D) will only be applicable if the aggregate annual premium paid by an individual is up to Rs 5 lakh. For premiums beyond this limit, the proceeds will be added to the income and taxed at applicable rates.

Credit continues to grow

PB Fintech said the company’s credit arm, Paisabazaar, had touched Rs 15,000 crore in annual credit disbursal run rate. On an annual basis, it now disburses over half a million credit cards with banking partners.

The credit arm had hit Ebitda positivity in December 2022.

“We work to co-create products (such as cards and credit lines) with partners to either innovate or expand the market. And some of them are revenue-based through the lifetime of the product. And it helps us create trail revenue. We have been investing in increasing this trail revenue, and despite that we continue to be adjusted Ebitda positive,” Paisabazaar CEO Naveen Kukreja said.

Paisabazaar has shown the industry that it can operate on 40% margins as business efficiencies improve through digital, he said.