Turtlemint eyes profitable FY27 as renewal book grows

Insurance distribution platform Turtlemint expects to turn profitable on a full-year basis in FY27 on a growing renewal book and operating leverage, said cofounder and chief executive Dhirendra Mahyavanshi.

Speaking after the company's March quarter earnings, Mahyavanshi said Turtlemint had achieved adjusted Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) profitability, excluding Employee stock option plan (Esop) costs, for the first time.

While the quarterly profit was aided by a deferred tax credit and the seasonal strength of the March quarter, he said the underlying business was moving towards sustainable profitability.


Mahyavanshi said service Ebitda margins had improved from a negative 12% in FY23 to 13-14% currently, touching 17% in the fourth quarter, and are expected to continue expanding over the coming years. Service Ebitda is a metric used by the company to measure profitability after accounting for commissions paid to advisors and costs associated with managing them.

The company operates an insurance distribution platform that enables point-of-sale persons (Posps) and advisors to sell insurance products across India, particularly in tier 3 and 4 markets, unlike online aggregators, which primarily rely on digital customer acquisition.

Renewal strength
A key driver of margin expansion is the company's growing renewal business, where customer acquisition costs are significantly lower than new policy sales. Renewal income contributed Rs 225 crore out of Turtlemint's roughly Rs 1,100 crore revenue in FY26, or about one-fifth of the total, and the company expects renewals to remain in the 20-22% range of revenue while continuing to grow more than 50% annually in absolute terms.

Mahyavanshi said Turtlemint has also used artificial intelligence to automate parts of the renewal journey, particularly for smaller-ticket policies, helping improve customer retention while lowering servicing costs. The company said health insurance renewal rates are above 88%, with AI-powered calling agents now handling a larger share of repeat customer interactions.

Beyond customer acquisition, Turtlemint is also investing in training to expand its network of insurance advisors. Mahyavanshi said nearly 80% of the people joining the platform have no prior insurance background and undergo training through the company's in-house learning platform, Turtlemint Academy, before they begin selling insurance products. The platform has around 55,000 monthly active learners, offering regulatory, sales and AI-focused training modules free of cost in multiple languages.

Leaning on digital content
The company is also relying on a content-led distribution strategy to help its Posps generate insurance demand digitally. Mahyavanshi said Turtlemint creates insurance awareness content in 8-10 Indian languages, which Posps distribute through channels such as WhatsApp to educate customers and generate leads.

The strategy, launched during the Covid-19 pandemic when physical meetings were disrupted, has since become a key customer acquisition channel, particularly in smaller towns where insurance awareness remains low.

Turtlemint said the platform attracts people from around 65 professions, including college students, retired bank employees, restaurant owners and photocopy shop operators, who use insurance distribution as an additional source of income.

Advisors typically take around 18 months to build their business, after which retention improves significantly. The company said employees who don't enjoy the job usually leave within the first 18 months, but for those who stay, the retention rate is 95%.

While Turtlemint has expanded into mutual funds and personal loans to offer a broader suite of financial products, Mahyavanshi said insurance would continue contributing more than 95% of revenue over the next five years.

The company's mutual fund business currently manages assets of around Rs 1,300-1,400 crore, while the newer businesses remain relatively small and are intended to deepen customer relationships and create long-term optionality rather than materially contribute to revenue in the near term.