PB Fintech Ltd Management Discussions

Management Discussion and Analysis

Business Model

PB Fintech Limited, is the corporate umbrella for Policybazaar and Paisabaazaar, Indias largest online marketplaces for insurance and lending products.

The brands help Indian middle-class households secure social security for themselves by

1. safeguarding against the economic impact of death & disease (term insurance & health insurance)

2. providing solutions for child education planning & pensions

3. access to efficient financial /lending products

While we focus on protection products, we are a one-stop solution for all insurance needs - we offer motor insurance, travel insurance, savings solutions and a host of other insurance products as well through Policybazaar.com - a platform to buy retail insurance products online. We have a consumer-pull-based model which champions consumer needs by being a provider-neutral insurance distribution platform.

The business model of PB Fintech continues to evolve to deepen its engagement across the entire value chain and enhance the customer experience at every stage. Initially focused on product discovery, we progressively expanded into facilitating online sales, followed by assisted sales and postpurchase service support. Most recently, we have extended our capabilities to include claims assistance, thereby providing end-to-end support throughout the customer journey and reinforcing our commitment to comprehensive service excellence.

Simultaneously, we have broadened our portfolio by launching complementary businesses, such as Paisabazaar, which addresses the lending needs of consumers. This platform offers free credit score reports as an entry point to attract customers, who are subsequently presented with tailored lending products. This innovative approach not only drives customer acquisition but also strengthens our foothold in the financial services ecosystem.

Over the years, we have expanded our offerings to corporate & SME clients through our brand PB for Business-a platform to buy corporate insurance products online. This expansion not only diversifies our revenue streams but also supports enterprises in managing workforce risks and ensuring organizational resilience.

Recognizing the significance of distribution channels, we further launched PB Partners, a SaaS platform expressly designed for offline insurance agents. This ancillary business leverages technology to streamline agent operations, improve client servicing efficiency, and extend our reach.

Over the last few years, we have also extended our operational footprint beyond domestic boundaries, establishing a strong presence in the United Arab Emirates. This geographical expansion helps us tap UAEs growing digital economy and its vibrant demographic, which includes a substantial population from the Indian subcontinent.

The demographic affinity has naturally facilitated brand recognition for Policybazaar due to similar media consumption patterns shared with our domestic markets. Leveraging this familiarity, we have successfully introduced a comprehensive portfolio of products tailored to meet the unique needs of consumers across multiple geographies.

We have also ventured into reinsurance brokerage, payment aggregation & account aggregation businesses to complement our primary businesses. Reinsurance brokerage will enable us to act as an intermediary between insurers and reinsurers, facilitating risk transfer and management on a larger scale. This will not only enhance our capabilities in underwriting and risk mitigation but also position us to offer more robust and competitive solutions to our insurance partners by leveraging reinsurance partnerships. In the realm of payment aggregation, we have developed capabilities to streamline and consolidate multiple payment methods into a unified platform.

This enhances transaction efficiency for our customers and business partners, providing seamless payment experiences and expanding our reach within the digital payments landscape. Through account aggregation, we empower consumers with a consolidated view of their financial data across multiple accounts and institutions. This holistic financial overview fosters better decision-making and personalized financial management. Collectively, these expansions into adjacent areas complement our core offerings by enriching the value we deliver, driving innovation, and enhancing customer satisfaction.

There are 4 key levers which are common across our businesses despite their varied diversity & complexity.

1. Building Consumer Awareness

Indias burgeoning middle class, coupled with rising literacy and increased access to financial products, presents a substantial opportunity for education and engagement. We focus on creating awareness about the importance and suitability of insurance and personal credit products by simplifying complex offerings, providing expert guidance, and facilitating informed purchase decisions. Our approach combines traditional mass media channels such as television campaigns with targeted online marketing efforts to highlight the critical need for insurance and the availability of a wide range of tailored products, enabling consumers to conveniently discover and select the best options for their unique needs.

2. Delivering Value to Partners

Our business model hinges on bridging information gaps. While we assist consumers in identifying the most appropriate products, we simultaneously empower our partners by unlocking access to new customer segments and offering detailed insights into consumer profiles through technology-driven analytics. By leveraging innovative, digitally optimized parameters for enhanced risk assessment, we help partners design customized offerings that address the specific needs of diverse customer groups. Collaborative innovation with our insurance and lending partners enables process improvements that meet the expectations of digitally savvy consumers, such as reduced turnaround times in essential service areas.

3. Harnessing Technology

We deploy cutting-edge technology across three critical dimensions:

• Enhancing Consumer Experience:

Our platforms and customer journeys are meticulously designed to deliver seamless online and offline interactions, ensuring smooth handling of even traditionally physical processes like medical checkups, car garage experience, in-hospital health insurance claims.

• Optimizing Partner Operations:

We have developed robust digital integration capabilities that enable seamless synchronization of processes across our partner ecosystem. This deep technological connectivity plays a critical role in driving efficiency and cost reduction for our partners. By employing advanced analytics and algorithms, we deliver sharper risk assessment and sophisticated fraud detection mechanisms that significantly lower claims-related expenses for our insurance partners. Additionally, our digital frameworks reduce dependence on extensive physical infrastructure and manual intervention, resulting in substantial savings on operational costs such as staffing and facility management.

Features like real-time data updates and automated communication channels enhance coordination efficiency, minimizing the bandwidth required for partner interactions. This not only streamlines internal workflows but also elevates the overall customer experience by ensuring faster, more transparent, and responsive service delivery throughout the engagement lifecycle.

• Boosting Operational and Marketing Efficiency:

We leverage data analytics and advanced technology to enable rapid, informed decision-making, particularly in evaluating the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. This data-driven approach allows us to optimize resource allocation and maximize campaign impact. Additionally, we employ technology-driven solutions to streamline key operational processes, such as pitch management and automated tracking of workforce utilization, ensuring greater productivity and cost efficiency across the organization.

All our technology solutions are developed in-house, enabling us to maintain agility and respond swiftly to changing market demands.

4. Lifecycle Management

• Purchase/Sales:

We offer a seamless and flexible sales process through a diverse range of channels including telephone support, video consultations, live chat, and in-person interactions. This multi-channel approach enables us to meet customers where they are and adapt to their evolving preferences and comfort levels. Our product offerings are designed with flexibility in mind, allowing customers to customize coverage options based on their unique requirements.

• Service: Our support extends well beyond the point of sale. Throughout the entire customer lifecycle, we provide proactive assistance covering policy renewals, upgrades, endorsements, and most importantly, efficient claim processing. This ongoing engagement is key to driving customer loyalty over time, which is critical for our long-term profitability.

• Grievance handling:

We consider complaints & exception handling as grave subjects which are given prime importance to ensure an end-to-end support process for customer satisfaction.

Our Strategy

At PB Fintech, we aspire to be a comprehensive end-to- end service provider dedicated to prioritizing consumer interests through extensive use of technology. Therefore, our product & process innovation is geared towards customer centricity and our decision-making is data-analysis reliant.

We remain committed to consistently providing a seamless and personalized user experience, continuously adapting and evolving to meet the dynamic needs of our customers.

Our diversification is also in the direction of allied businesses as we go deeper in the value chain and offer increasingly meaningful solutions to our consumers.

1. Customer Experience & Loyalty: We offer fair & commission agnostic advisory which is best suited to fulfil the needs of the consumers. This ensures high retention & renewal rates while reinforcing our brand reputation through positive word-of-mouth. To support our customers throughout their journey, we provide multi-channel assistance, including app and website interfaces, telephone support, video consultations, live chat, and in-person engagement, ensuring accessible and personalized service at every stage of the lifecycle.

2. Collaborative innovation with Partners: Through extensive joint research programs, we work closely with our partners to develop new products and services that not only enhance our offerings but also contribute to advancing the entire industry landscape. This cooperative approach accelerates our growth trajectory and enables us to deliver differentiated, customized solutions that make our PB Advantage a unique and compelling proposition for our consumers.

3. Technology & Data-driven Approach: We employ advanced technology & data analytics as foundational tools for daily decision-making at every level. This focus improves operational efficiency and elevates customer service standards. As a digital-first company, we continuously innovate across all facets-from product design and service delivery to comprehensive lifecycle management—to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience. This persistent dedication to technological advancement sustains our competitive edge and leadership position in the fintech sector.

4. Trust: We recognize that trust is the cornerstone of long-term success for our organization, impacting relationships with customers, partners, and employees alike.

Customers: Insurance inherently involves purchasing protection with the hope of never needing it but also with the confidence that claims will be honored if necessary. To foster this trust, we have deployed on-ground support teams in 200+ cities, providing assistance within a turnaround time of just 30 minutes, ensuring reliability and responsiveness. Additionally, we are increasingly playing a proactive role in facilitating the approval of claims that were previously repudiated due to documentation deficiencies or other administrative issues.

Partners: We are dedicated to maintaining fairness and transparency in all our partnerships, cultivating a collaborative environment that encourages mutually beneficial initiatives and sustainable outcomes. Our guiding philosophy emphasizes prioritizing the long-term profitability and health of the entire ecosystem, rather than pursuing short-term gains that may not serve the best interests of all stakeholders.

Employees: Our people are vital to our success. We focus on attracting, nurturing, and retaining talented professionals who drive our vision forward. Our intrapreneurial culture promotes autonomy, openness, and fairness, enabling rapid institutionalization of best practices and positive outcomes across different entities and segments of our group.

Brands

Our flagship brands, Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, continue to play a transformative role in shaping the Indian fintech industry landscape.

Policybazaar has evolved to stand out as a highly recognized and trusted brand nationwide, serving as a key driver in increasing awareness around insurance products. To effectively communicate important messages on complex and serious topics, we leverage the influence of popular comedians in our mass media marketing campaigns. Recently, we have launched campaigns showcasing real customers sharing their claims experiences, highlighting the support provided by PB employees throughout the process.

Over the years, our brand messaging has evolved to mirror the expansion of our service offerings. Initially focused on the advantages of comparing and saving, & emphasizing the importance of financial security, today we dedicate significant resources to raising awareness about the comprehensive, end-to-end services we provide to our consumers, including claims assistance—a critical component of the insurance value chain. Our steadfast commitment to exceptional customer support, especially during the claims process, has been instrumental in building and sustaining trust with our customers.

Our mass media as well as online campaigns are widely appreciated, and we have received several accolades for the same.

We run tailored campaigns for specialized products designed to meet the needs of niche segments such as NRIs and homemakers, allowing us to effectively reach the target audiences at appropriate times. Additionally, we adopt a region-specific strategy that targets diverse customer groups by using vernacular and widely spoken languages in those areas, including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Bengali & Kannada.

We leverage consumer insights and market research to drive data-oriented decision-making and optimize our marketing strategies.

Technology

We are a digital-first organization, and every aspect of our business depends heavily on advanced use of technology.

1. Technology for consumers - for customer experience

2. Technology for partners - for product & process innovation

3. Technology for employees - for efficiency

Our service-oriented architecture technology stack is built on a robust infrastructure and leverages advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to deliver seamless solutions that ensure an exceptional customer experience. We rely heavily on technology to manage complex processes such as risk assessment, postpurchase fulfilment, and lifecycle management activities including refunds and cancellations. Our deep digital integrations with partners enable smooth and efficient interactions with consumers.

We are focused on enhancing the claims experience within the insurance value chain, recognizing its critical role in building and sustaining consumer trust. Additionally, we utilize technology to drive efficiencies in marketing and operations, resulting in cost reductions for both our organization and our insurance and lending partners.

Cybersecurity remains a cornerstone of our technological framework, and we continue to make significant investments to maintain the integrity, security, and resilience of our systems.

Opportunities

Expanding Digital Consumer Base & Improving Conversion

As the middle class continues to expand, it is essential for us to attract new consumers while simultaneously enhancing serviceability and support for our existing customer base.

We have witnessed steady growth in the number of unique visitors across our websites and mobile platforms, reflecting our increasing digital reach and engagement.

As of March 31, 2025, Policybazaar hosted over 104.8 million registered consumers. Among them, 20.6 million unique buyers purchased a total of 52.6 million policies, averaging 2.6 policies per customer. Paisabazaar, on the other hand, has a base of 50.8 million consumers who accessed their free credit score, representing 16% of Indias active credit score consumers. Till date, 6.3 million consumers have made 9.1 million transactions on our credit marketplace. We continue to expand our consumer base by investing in awareness campaigns.

Collaboration with Partners

PolicyBazaar and Paisabazaar serve as valuable platforms for insurance and lending partners by providing access to extensive consumer bases, which significantly contributes to increased sales and market penetration. Industry reports highlight that these platforms offer one of the lowest customer acquisition costs for partners, further reinforcing their attractiveness as strategic channels.

As of March 31, 2025, we had 51 insurance partners and 70+ lending partnerships.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, we generated an insurance premium of Rs.23,486 Cr for insurer partners, a 48% rise from Rs.15,875 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 31,2024. During the same period, we sourced Rs.20,465 Cr of disbursals, a 38% rise from Rs.14,808 Cr the previous year.

Our objective is to continually strengthen these partnerships through enhanced technology and seamless process integrations, ensuring efficient and mutually beneficial collaboration. We are also committed to fostering innovation and industry advancement by establishing and operating joint research labs with our insurance and lending partners. Through these collaborative initiatives, we aim to co-create new products and solutions that address evolving market needs and deliver superior value to consumers and partners alike.

Business Growth with Existing Customers

Sustaining long-term customer relationships and expanding business opportunities with our existing consumer base is a highly cost-effective growth strategy across our diverse product offerings. This approach allows us to maximize lifetime customer value while minimizing acquisition expenses. In the quarter ended March 31,2025, the renewal/trail revenue increased 9.3x as compared to the same period in the fiscal year 2018-2019. Renewal/repeat business has significant margins in both insurance as well as credit segments. The steady expansion of renewal and repeat revenue streams has become a key driver of our sustained profitability, reinforcing the importance of nurturing ongoing customer engagement and delivering consistently exceptional service experiences.

Allied Opportunities

Reinsurance broking: Policybazaar serves as a comprehensive repository of insurance data, spanning diverse customer segments and accumulating over 17 years of valuable insights. Our extensive experience in analyzing and leveraging this rich data asset positions us uniquely to unlock significant advantages as a reinsurance broker.

1. Diversified/additional revenue streams: reinsurance broking can provide an additional revenue stream, complementing the existing insurance business.

2. Strengthened Partner Relationships: By providing reinsurance solutions, we can deepen our engagements with existing insurance partners who seek more comprehensive risk management services, thereby enhancing collaboration and mutual business value.

3. Expanded access to Global Markets: Reinsurance broking involves working with global reinsurers; thus it can help in expanding our network and market reach.

4. Opportunities for Specialization: his new domain allows us to focus on niche products and complex risk areas, positioning ourselves as recognized experts in specialized segments of the reinsurance landscape, further differentiating our offerings and competitive edge.

5. De-risking for stable capacity: This can help us to secure coverage during supply disruptions/supply shocks. We can also simulate risk scenarios, and design strategic solutions that facilitate continuity of coverage and help mitigate liability exposure during supply shocks.

Account aggregation: At PB Fintech, we recognize the transformative potential of account aggregation in the financial services landscape. As an account aggregator, we intend to provide a secure and seamless platform for consolidating financial data from multiple sources, empowering users with a comprehensive view of their financial health.

1. Enhanced Financial Management: By aggregating account information, we will enable users to track their income, expenses, investments, and liabilities in one place. This holistic view aids in better financial planning and decisionmaking.

2. Faster & More Accurate Service Delivery: Access to real-time, consent-based financial data facilitates quicker and more accurate customer onboarding, KYC, loan processing, and compliance checks. This efficiency translates into improved customer satisfaction and higher conversion rates.

3. Personalized Financial Solutions: With access to consolidated financial data, we will offer personalized financial products and services tailored to individual needs, enhancing customer satisfaction and engagement.

4. Reduced Operational Costs: Automation and secure digital data sharing through account aggregation cut down on manual document handling and verification, reducing error rates and operational costs.

5. Improved Partner Integration & Ecosystem Growth:

We can interface with banks, insurers, lenders, and wealth managers more efficiently. This strengthens partnerships and broadens the service ecosystem, making us a preferred partner for financial institutions.

Payment aggregation: We stand to gain several strategic benefits from the payments aggregation arm:

Benefits for PB Fintech With a Payment Aggregation Licence

1. Integrated Payment Solutions: To offer seamless payment collection and processing services for insurance products, personal finance offerings, and merchant transactions through our subsidiary PB Pay.

2. New Revenue Streams: We can earn transaction fees from payment processing, adding to our existing commission and consulting revenue, thus diversifying our income sources.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience: Users can compare, purchase, and pay for products on the same platform, improving satisfaction and increasing conversion rates.

4. Merchant Onboarding: PB Pay can onboard merchants, giving us entry into broader payment markets, not just insurance and financial services.

5. Digital Infrastructure Expansion: It can provide both offline and digital payment solutions, increasing our service footprint and reaching more segments.

6. Compliance and Trust: Operating under RBI authorisation increases consumer and partner trust, while ensuring regulatory compliance with payments and settlements standards.

Payment

Revenue

Policybazaar

For Policybazaar, we primarily generate revenues from (i) insurance commission that we receive from our insurance partners based on a percentage of the premiums originated by us for the insurance partners, and (ii) additional services that we provide such as telemarketing and other services relating to sales and post-sales services, account management, premium collection and various other services which are permitted under IRDAI rules such as outsourcing services, product listing services, and rewards earned based on volume and quality. The fee rates are set by insurance partners or negotiated between them and us.

In addition to generating revenue from new insurance policies sold on our platform, we also earn insurance commission from renewals of such insurance policies, when they are renewed (i) with the same insurance partner on our platform, or (ii) with another insurance partner on our platform, or (iii) with the same insurance partner directly.

Other Services

The Other Services segment encompasses Paisabazaar and other entities including PB Fintech.

Paisabazaar

Revenue for Paisabazaar is mainly generated through:

1. Commission from Lending Partners, calculated as a percentage of the loan amount or as a fixed fee for credit cards.

2. Fees from credit advisory and related services provided to consumers or lending partners.

3. Fees for marketing services provided to financial services partners and third parties, dependent on the type of marketing service.

PB Fintech

PB Fintechs revenue is derived from:

1. Online marketing and consulting services fees charged to insurance and lending partners, based on the specific service type.

2. Technology services offered to insurance and lending partners to enhance their technological capabilities, digitize platforms, and improve customer service.

Expenses

The principal expenses of the company fall into two main categories: (i) customer acquisition and servicing, and (ii) enabling services.

Customer Acquisition and Servicing:

1. Employee Benefits Expenses: These include salaries, incentives, performance, and share-based compensation. The focus is primarily on expenses related to the operations team, who are engaged in sales and services to facilitate transactions for consumers.

2. Advertising and Promotional Expenses: These costs are tied to attracting consumers to the platforms, encompassing digital marketing, affiliate marketing, brand promotion, and related promotional initiatives.

Enabling Services:

1. Network and Internet Expenses: This category consists of internet and server charges, web hosting fees, and communication expenses.

2. Depreciation and Amortization Expenses: These expenses are associated with the right of use of leased premises and other assets, reflecting an asset-light capital strategy with assets mainly tied to technology infrastructure & IT equipment.

3. Other Expenses: This includes various costs such as legal and professional fees, security and housekeeping, utility expenses like electricity, water etc, and payments to auditors for services like audit fees, tax audit fees, reimbursement of expenses, transfer pricing fees, IRDA certification fees, IFCFR report fees, and limited review fees etc.

Collectively, these expenses provide a comprehensive view of the costs involved in operating and growing the business, from employee retention to technology infrastructure, marketing efforts, and various administrative necessities.

Risk Management, Governance and Sustainability

As PB Fintech evolved from a pioneering digital web aggregator to a diversified fintech ecosystem, our risk framework has undergone a parallel transformation: from a functional necessity to a strategic enabler.

At the heart of this evolution is our commitment to managing risk not as a constraint, but as a core lever of innovation, resilience, and trust. As Indias financial landscape expands in complexity and scale, so does the need for robust, forwardlooking risk oversight that is adaptive by design and unified in purpose.

Risk Governance Across a Multi-Entity, Multi-Licence Business:

Our risk framework is now designed as a Group Risk Architecture, anchored on the following pillars:

1. Three Lines of Defence Model

• Line 1: Business ownership of risk with embedded functional controls

• Line 2: Independent Risk and Compliance function, reporting to the Group CRO

• Line 3: Internal Audit with direct reporting to the Audit Committee

2. Entity-Specific Risk Management

Each licensed entity operates under its own risk governance framework as per regulator-specific expectations—be it IRDAI (insurance), RBI (account aggregator, payments), or IFSCA (international operations)—but harmonized under a group-wide risk strategy to manage interdependencies and concentration risks.

3. Integrated Risk Themes

• Technology & Cyber Risk: Leveraging cloud-native controls, penetration testing, and incident response readiness

• Regulatory Risk: Constant alignment with evolving regulations—DPI, data privacy, OCEN, SRO norms

• Consumer Risk: Ensuring suitability and grievance redressal through AI-powered monitoring

• Reputational & ESG Risk: Monitoring societal trust, responsible data use, and impact metrics

Risk Strategy in Expansion: Domestic and Global

Our expansion to newer geographies—especially in the Middle East—and new business lines such as Account Aggregation and Payments requires a global risk model:

• Localization of compliance protocols (KYC, AML, data sovereignty)

• Centralized policy engine and governance dashboard for executive and Board-level oversight

• Stress-testing for new verticals like PB Health, focusing on underwriting, provider integration, and patient data security

• Partnership risk models for embedded finance and APIs

Looking Ahead: Risk as a Catalyst

Our purpose-driven risk strategy is enabling us to:

• Launch responsibly and scale with trust

• Create frictionless yet compliant digital journeys

• Deliver embedded risk intelligence to customers and partners

Anticipate, not just respond, to risks-especially in GenAI, financial inclusion, and digital infrastructure.

PB Fintech Risk Framework: Evolution & Structure

As we expand from digital aggregation to digital infrastructure, our risk framework is no longer just a gatekeeper—it is now a strategic compass. It ensures we remain resilient in uncertainty, compliant in complexity, and above all, trusted by the customers and ecosystems we serve.

We continue to evolve by design and expand with purpose, and risk excellence will remain central to our growth journey.

Sustainability stands as a fundamental pillar guiding our operations and strategic direction. We are deeply committed to optimizing resource utilization to ensure environmental stewardship while driving long-term business value. Our approach centers on minimizing the ecological footprint of our activities by integrating sustainable products and best practices throughout our operations.

To achieve this, we actively implement eco-friendly solutions, including the deployment of energy-efficient equipment and installations designed to reduce energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Our commitment extends beyond operational efficiency to encompass responsible sourcing practices-prioritizing procurement from local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to support community businesses and promote inclusive economic growth. Similarly, we emphasize employing local talent for our manpower requirements, fostering community development and reducing the environmental impact associated with extensive workforce mobility.

We recognize that innovation is critical to advancing our sustainability agenda. Accordingly, we consistently allocate conscious investments in Research and Development focused on pioneering technologies that enhance the environmental and social performance of our products and processes. This includes targeted capital expenditures to adopt and scale sustainable technologies that drive continuous improvement in our operations.

Through these concerted actions, we strive not only to comply with environmental and social responsibilities but also to champion sustainable development as an integral part of our corporate ethos, ensuring resilient growth for our stakeholders and positive contributions to the communities and ecosystems in which we operate.

We view sustainability as one of the essential principles and are focused on resource optimization. We endeavour to reduce the environmental impact of our operations by adopting sustainable products & practices and to reduce the carbon footprint using eco-friendly installations like energy- efficient equipment. Sourcing from local small and medium enterprises as well as hiring local employees for manpower services, both have been priorities for us. We ensure regular conscious investment in Research and Development and capital expenditure in specific technologies for improving the environmental and social impact of product and processes.

Our team being our biggest strength, we are dedicated to maintaining a work environment that is free from any harassment and promote a work culture which is conducive for inclusion and diversity. Our community activities offer us a chance to positively impact the community in which we operate. We believe that in alignment with our vision, we will continue to enhance and deliver value to our various stakeholders, promote environmental sustainability, financial inclusion of the people and society at large.