Policybazaar Q1 Net Loss Surges 84% YoY To INR 204.33 Cr

SUMMARY

Operating revenue surged 112% YoY to INR 505.18 Cr in the quarter under review, while total expenses surged 105%

Policybazaar processed insurance premiums worth INR 2,430 Cr in Q1 FY23, up 52% compared to Q1 FY22

Paisabazaar disbursed credit worth INR 2,320 Cr in the quarter under review, growing 136% on a yearly basis

PB Fintech, the parent company of fintech player Policybazaar, on Wednesday (August 10) reported a consolidated net loss of INR 204.33 Cr in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The loss surged 84% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis from INR 110.84 Cr in the quarter ending June 2021, while it narrowed nearly 7% on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis.

Operating revenue surged 112% YoY to INR 505.18 Cr in the quarter under review. Total expenses also grew 105% in Q1 FY23 to INR 756.79 Cr from INR 369.01 Cr during the same period last year.

Employee benefit expenses accounted for the biggest chunk of total expenses, growing 81% YoY to INR 381.65 Cr in Q1 FY23. Marketing expenses registered a steep spike of 172% on a yearly basis to INR 289.79 Cr in the quarter ending June 2022.

The fintech player reported an adjusted EBITDA of INR 18 Cr for its core and non-core businesses.

Policybazaar said that it processed insurance premiums worth INR 2,430 Cr in Q1 FY23, up 52% compared to the same period last year. New insurance premium per enquiry per month metric stood at INR 1,595.

“Quality of business in terms of claims ratio and retention rates makes our business profitable for our partners. High disclosure rates and fraud detection are helping improve claims settlement ratios for our partners,” it said in a statement.

The company said that the insurance business is witnessing a steady shift in business mix towards rural India. About 59% of its insurance business came from non-Tier-I cities in FY22, double from 28% in FY17, Policybazaar said.

PBFintech also operates online credit platform Paisabazaar. The company said it disbursed credit worth INR 2,320 Cr in the quarter under review, growing 136% on a yearly basis.

“We are now at the run rate of INR 11,200 Cr disbursal and 4.3 Lakh credit card issuance on an annualized basis. Over 29.5 Mn customers have accessed credit score on our paisabazaar platform so far from over 823 different towns,” the statement said.

PB Fintech had close to 61.2 Mn registered customers on Policybazaar platform at the end of June 2022. The company had nearly 93% market share in the online insurance aggregator space.

It claims to have more than 12.3 Mn transacting users since its inception and sold 27.9 Mn policies till date.

The fintech player also said that it operates 40 physical stores in 32 cities across the country, with on-ground support in 114 cities.

Shares of PBFintech on Wednesday ended 0.59% higher at INR 560.50 on the BSE. The company declared the financial results after market hours.