Stellar debut: Policybazaar now in top 100 companies

“We are lucky as a company to solve a problem where we can educate people about the need for life and health insurance,” Yashish Dahiya, co-founder, PB Fintech, said at the listing ceremony.

PB Fintech, which runs the online insurance marketplace Policybazaar, made a strong debut on the exchanges on Monday to find a place among the country’s most-valued companies. With a market capitalisation of Rs 54,070.33 crore, the fintech player is now the 94th biggest company in the listed space, ahead of JSW Energy, Hero Motocorp, Bosch, Cholamandalam Investment and several others, Bloomberg data showed.

The scrip listed at a 17.34% premium at Rs 1,150, against its offer price of Rs 980 apiece. After hitting an intra-day high of Rs 1,248.90, it ended the session 22.7% higher at Rs 1,202.90 on the BSE. PB Fintech’s Rs 5,625-crore IPO was subscribed 16.59 times earlier this month, receiving bids worth Rs 56,093.64 crore from investors. On October 29, the SoftBank-backed company garnered Rs 2,569 crore from 155 anchor investors at an upper price band of Rs 980 apiece. It is also backed by Tiger Global and Temasek Holdings.

While analysts believe the stock is a tad expensive when compared with global peers — valued at 46.3x FY22 M-cap/sales on a post-issue and annualised basis — they also acknowledge its leadership position in both the digital insurance/consumer credit marketplaces and customer-centric approach.

Importantly, losses are reducing at Policybazaar while Paisabazaar has turned profitable. Policybazaar is India’s largest digital insurance marketplace, with an FY20 market share of 93.4%, based on the number of policies sold through online distribution platforms. Paisabazaar, on the other hand, is the largest digital consumer credit marketplace, with a market share of 53.7% based on FY21 disbursals.

According to the prospectus filed with the Sebi, net proceeds from the IPO will be used for enhancing visibility and brand awareness (including but not limited to Policybazaar and Paisabazaar). The company also aims to tap new opportunities for expanding its consumer base and further develop the brand internationally.

“We are lucky as a company to solve a problem where we can educate people about the need for life and health insurance,” Yashish Dahiya, co-founder, PB Fintech, said at the listing ceremony. He added that more than 50 employees have been with the company for over 10 years.