Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Relieves PB Fintech Of INR 166 Cr Tax

Insurtech major Policybazaar’s parent PB Fintech has been relieved of tax amounting to INR 166.12 Cr for the fiscal year 2015-16, which was previously imposed by the Commissioner of Income Tax-Appeal (CIT-A).

The company received an order from the Assistant Registrar of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in New Delhi, upholding all grounds of appeal filed by PB Fintech against a prior decision made by CIT-A. 

In an exchange filing, PB Fintech informed, “We wish to tell you that PB Fintech has received an order dated 31st December 2024 on 2nd January 2025 from the Assistant Registrar, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), New Delhi wherein ITAT has sustained all the grounds of the appeal filed by the company against the order of Commissioner of Income Tax-Appeal (CIT-A) for FY 2015-16 thereby leading to the deletion of additions amounting to INR 166.12 Cr made by the Assessing Officer and confirmed by CIT-A, National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi.”

This legal victory comes amidst ongoing scrutiny of PB Fintech’s subsidiary, Paisabazaar, facing notices from the Income Tax Department regarding vendor payments and their associated entities.

However, the company then assured stakeholders that it complied with the prescribed timelines for responding to the notices.

The development also coincides with the company’s shares hitting a fresh all-time high figure of INR 2,246.95 apiece on the BSE on January 3 after the company ventured into the healthcare segment. The company has set up a new wholly owned subsidiary by the name of PB Healthcare Services Private Limited. 

Not to mention, its group chairman and CEO Yashish Dahiya in September said that PB Fintech would make a one-time investment of $100 Mn to acquire a 30% stake in a new healthcare company.

It is pertinent to note that the company has been doing the diversification of its core financial services business lately. 

Last year, the company incorporated a subsidiary PB Pay as part of its plan to venture into the payment aggregator business.

Another of its subsidiaries, PB Financial Account Aggregator Private Limited (PBAA) received the account aggregator license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October 2024.

On the financial front, PB Fintech reported a consolidated net profit of INR 50.98 Cr in the second quarter (Q2) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) against a loss of INR 21.11 Cr in the year-ago quarter. 

Notably, this was the fourth consecutive profitable quarter for the company. During this period, revenue from operations jumped over 43% to INR 1,167.2 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 811.6 Cr in the year-ago period. 

PB Fintech shares ended Friday’s trading session 0.43% higher at INR 2214.85 apiece on the BSE.