Following through on the guidance provided in the previous quarters, the company has also reported profits of Rs 4.2 crore for the nine-months period ending December 31.
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The company’s management had reiterated previously that it was aiming to turn profitable in FY24 on the back of strong performance in third and fourth quarters.
PB Fintech’s profitability comes on increased quarterly revenue, better margins and keeping expenses in check.
Revenue from operations grew 43% to Rs 871 crore in the third quarter of FY24. Its core online marketplaces Policybazaar and Paisabazaar reported a 39% increase in revenues to Rs 593 crore in the December-quarter.
“We aimed for a full year PAT (profit after tax) in FY24. We have already achieved it in three quarters with our strongest quarter yet to follow. We had previously also guided that we will touch premiums of Rs 35,000 crore in FY27 and we think we can achieve that considering our last two year growth has been 2.5x,” said PB Fintech chairman and cofounder, Yashish Dahiya, while addressing analysts on Tuesday.
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Both Policybazaar and Paisabazaar contributed 68% of PB Fintech’s quarterly revenues.
The company’s board also approved the grant of unsecured loans worth Rs 200 crore to Policybazaar Insurance Brokers and Rs 50 crore to Paisabazaar, to be provided across multiple tranches across FY24 and FY25.
Policybazaar clocked total insurance premiums worth Rs 4,261 crore for the quarter and crossed an annual premium run rate of Rs 17,000 crore.
While, credit subsidiary Paisabazaar touched annualised credit disbursements of Rs 14,321 crore, and distributed Rs 3,580 crore worth of loans in the third quarter.
Credit business recalibrates
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) increasing of risk weightages on unsecured consumer lending has impacted several loan distributors.
According to Dahiya, after the latest guidelines around unsecured lending, PB Fintech expects its credit business to grow at 30% year-on-year instead of 40% previously.
Also read | RBI increases risk weights in attempt to slow down consumer loan growth
“With the unsecured lending guidelines, we expect our credit business to grow at 10% lower (rate). Lenders have tightened their logics and supply takes time to build … The smell we are picking up from partners is that it has nothing to do with the quality of book we source but that the regulator needs lenders to take a closer look at all processes,” said Dahiya addressing analysts.
Credit-linked revenue for PB Fintech stood at Rs 145 crore for the December quarter.
In December, Paytm had also announced its decision to scale down the sub-Rs 50,000 credit offering on its platform, leading to the company’s share price taking a tumble.
Dahiya also added that the company still hasn’t decided on a share buyback or returning dividends to investors as the company turns profitable.
“We do not need so much cash and at some point, it will get returned. But we have not decided on it or discussed it with the board yet,” added Dahiya.
