PB Fintech Limited, which operates through its online insurance and credit aggregator platforms — Policybazaar and Paisabazaar — will set aside Rs 375 crore from its maiden public offer to expand offline through physical retail outlets and point-of-sale presence.
The IPO of PB Fintech will open on November 1 and at a price band of Rs 940-980 per share of face value of Rs 2 each. The Rs 5,710-crore offer consists of a fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 3,750 crore and an offer for sale of around Rs 1,960 crore, which includes Softbank entity SVF Python II (Cayman) Limited offloading a stake worth Rs 1,875 crore. PB Fintech has been valued at around $$6 billion.
According to the company’s prospectus, as of September 30, 2021, it had 21 physical retail outlets which will be scaled up to 200 by the end of fiscal 2024.
These outlets will serve as experience centres for consumers and will allow on ground claims support. The company further said it plans to develop point of sales presence in strategic locations over the next three fiscal years. Direct selling and agencies are the prominent sales channels for insurance in the country.
PB Fintech CEO Yashish Dahiya said in 2009 the company’s marketing spend on health and life insurance policies were more than earnings.
This came down in a major way when the call centre operations were started which aided conversion of enquiries into policy purchase and premium per enquiry numbers started moving up.
“In the category of health and life insurance call centres have played a pivotal role in the growth of Policybazaar. We now plan to further scale up. The objective is the consumers who come online, can we convert them at a higher rate and get more premium out of the same inquiries,” said Dahiya.
“Our strategy will be to invest in developing the brands, technology and infrastructure. We are expanding our offerings to SMEs and corporate clients.”
