(Reuters) – India’s PB Fintech reported a sharp jump in third-quarter profit on Thursday, aided by rising sales of insurance policies.
The company’s consolidated net profit rose 88% from a year earlier to 715.4 million rupees ($8.26 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31.
Analysts said PB Fintech continues to benefit from increasing demand in India’s largely untapped insurance policy aggregator sector, aided by improving financial awareness and income levels.
The company operates online insurance aggregator Policybazaar and credit marketplace Paisabazaar.
PB Fintech’s revenue from operations rose 48% to 12.92 billion rupees, led by a 62% jump in insurance broker services, its largest segment.
The company’s insurance premium grew 44%, mainly from a 47% growth in new health and life insurance premium.
Meanwhile, its credit business, which took a hit following the Indian central bank’s crackdown on unsecured lending, continued to face slowdown.
PB Fintech said its disbursal in the online credit business was down 20% year-on-year, with revenue from the segment dropping 18%.
However, its total lending disbursal rose 52%, led mainly by the new secured credit business which was started in the previous quarter.
($1 = 86.6000 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
