BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s PB Fintech, the parent of online insurance aggregator Policybazaar, reported a profit for a second straight quarter on Tuesday, as sales rose in a seasonally-strong quarter amid easing marketing spends.
The company, which also operates online credit marketplace Paisabazaar, posted a consolidated net profit of 605.9 million rupees ($7.3 million) for the quarter ended March 31, against a net loss of 89.5 million rupees a year ago.
The January-to-March quarter sees high insurance sales as taxpayers buy policies to avail tax rebates at the financial-year end.
PB Fintech’s revenue from operations rose more than 25% to 10.9 billion rupees, as revenue from its largest segment, insurance broking, more than doubled.
The company, which reported its first-ever profit in the December-quarter, has been cutting marketing and promotional expenditure in a bid to focus on profitability.
In the March quarter, its advertising and promotion expenses fell nearly 48% from a year earlier to 2.38 billion rupees.
Meanwhile, its credit business growth slowed following the Indian central bank’s crackdown on unsecured lending.
The annualised credit disbursal run-rate, a gauge projecting loan disbursement for the year, was at 140 billion rupees as at March-end, down from 150 billion rupees a year earlier.
PB Fintech’s shares ended 3.1% lower ahead of the results.
($1 = 83.4884 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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