PB Fintech Ltd, the parent of online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar on Monday, narrowed its losses in the quarter-ended September 2022.
The fintech firm, which listed on the public bourses last year, reported a net loss of Rs 187 crore in the second quarter (Q2) of financial year (FY) 2022, compared to Rs 204 in the same quarter last year, according to exchange filings.
On a consolidated basis, PB Fintech’s revenue from operations more than doubled to Rs 573 crore in Q2 from Rs 280 crore year-on-year, led by growth in insurance premiums and credit disbursals.
Credit disbursals during the quarter grew 94% to Rs 2,922 crore, while insurance premiums grew by 79% to Rs 2,545 crore on a yearly basis.
“We are at an annual run rate of insurance premium of over Rs 10,000 crore growing at 79% on a yearly basis. Our consistent efforts to improve customer service and claims support are paying off,” PB Fintech said in a statement.
Segmentally, its revenue from insurance aggregation and broking services grew 68.7% to Rs 275 crore over the same duration last year. Its revenue from other services, which include online marketing, consulting and support services provided largely to the financial service industry, more than doubled to Rs 298 crore.
Shares of PB Fintech ended up 2.5% at Rs 386 apiece on Monday ahead of the quarterly review. In comparison, the benchmark Sensex was up 0.4%.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss came in at Rs 53 crore versus a loss of Rs 69 crore, mainly due to the new initiatives the company has undertaken. “We stay confident of being adjusted EBITDA positive by Q4 this year,” the company added.
The company’s expenses in the last quarter jumped 62% to Rs 821 crore compared to Rs 505 crore last year. Employee benefit expense, the largest contributor to the costs, grew 48% to Rs 410 crore during the quarter.
The next major expense for fintech was advertising and promotion expenses. Between July- September, PB Fintech spent Rs 312 crores on advertising and promotion, about 94 % more than last year.
During the quarter, PB Fintech invested Rs 65 crore in new initiatives including seller aggregator platform PB Partners. These new initiatives accounted for Rs 164 crore–about 28% - of the company’s operating revenue, growing about 10 times on a year-on-year basis.
Premiums for the company’s United Arab Emirates business, which it started in FY 2019, more than doubled to Rs 61 crore on a yearly basis.
“While there has been an industry slowdown in retail protection sales, we delivered 34% growth in health insurance premiums and 29% in life insurance new biz premiums, which is 2-5x of the industry,” the company said.
