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IPO-bound PB Fintech, an online financial services marketplace focussed on insurance, plans to open small management offices as part of its efforts to improve its market share and make its online model even more successful, Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and CEO, has said.
“The objective will be to raise conversion rates on online customers. Our business model is not that of setting up a branch. We are not setting up branches in high footfall areas. We are not setting up retail stores. They are going to be small service offices and management offices that will handhold customers at their drawing rooms or their office canteens,” Dahiya told BusinessLine .
Strategic move
He also made it clear that this should not be seen as a strategic shift for the digital company. “We will continue to acquire customers through website and app. But these are customers that need some hand holding. So far we provided that from call centre. Now, we will have our people on the ground do it from the physical centres. If we do not do this, in five years time our premium will be lot lower than if we were to do this. From overall profitability perspective, it will be margin accretive,” he said.
Alok Bansal
Alok Bansal, Wholetime Director & CFO, said that having a local person would give online customer added comfort that one is talking to a local agent in their own lingo. “They would feel that I have gone to the website and I also get local support enhancing what I got online,” he noted.
In financial year 2020-21, Policybazaar, which is India’s largest digital insurance marketplace, clocked insurance premium of ₹4,700 crore (new and renewals) out of its platform.
₹5,710-cr IPO on November 1
PB Fintech, which owns Policybazaar and digital consumer credit marketplace Paisabazaar, is launching its ₹5,710-crore initial public offering (IPO) on November 1.
Meanwhile, asked as to which of the two— Policybazaar or Paisabazaar— will be the main growth driver for PB Fintech in the coming years, Dahiya said that he would not like to compare the two and added that both will have their spaces.
Scaling up
Dahiya said that company’s efforts in focussing on corporates (including SMEs), points of sales Presence and physical presence is expected to help it scale up business in the coming days .
On international expansion, he said that the company has now got a presence in Dubai and sees lot of potential to grow in UAE. Going forward, one may even look at entering other geographies including Europe and South East Asia, he added.
Dahiya also said that PB Fintech may in the coming days even look at setting up investment platform for mutual funds, but quickly noted that no specific decision has been taken by its Board on this front.
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