POLICYBZR Q3 FY26 earnings call.

Guidance to track

• Management expects new initiatives (beyond core Policybazaar and Paisabazaar) to be at break-even or profitable going forward, as contribution margin has improved from -7% to -3% and the business scales.
• Board meeting scheduled to seek approval for QIP to fund international expansion. Markets being considered include Southeast Asia and Europe; criteria include large market size, strategic fit, and familiarity with regulatory dynamics.
• Management acknowledged the 79% health growth includes a 20-30 percentage point benefit from GST-related demand surge and expects growth to normalize toward a long-term sustainable level of around 30% going forward.
• Gurgaon hospital expected to go live in approximately three months; network development ongoing with four properties at various stages of development. Focus remains on secondary/tertiary care routing and preventive health services.

Risks flagged

• IRDAI regulations allow 30%/35% expense of premium for general/health insurance. If these caps reduce over time (e.g., to 25% or 20%), it could pressure take rates. Management claims their ~16-17% take rate is moderate and efficient players like PB may gain disproportionate market share if this occurs.
• Analyst raised concerns about media articles suggesting potential commission cuts in the insurance sector. Management deflected by emphasizing their consumer-centric rather than commission-centric approach and the competitive advantages from their superior claims support and disclosure capture capabilities.
• Health insurance premiums saw no price increases for four months. The GST cut drove incremental demand of approximately 20-30 percentage points of growth. Management cautioned that this tailwind will not sustain indefinitely and growth should normalize over time.
• Analyst specifically asked whether GST-related commission negotiations with partners are fully behind or still ongoing. Management provided a vague response focusing on win-win outcomes rather than directly addressing whether economics have been fully locked in, suggesting some residual uncertainty.

Key quotes

• I think Policybazaar is perhaps the most evolved insurance distribution model across the world. We add a lot of value to the consumers, a huge amount of value to the consumers, and a huge amount of value to our insurance partners.
• Risk products have to be sold on the basis of disclosure and the fact that you are able to help a person at the time of claim. This circle takes a long time to set up. So what we are seeing today is the benefit of decades-plus of effort that Policybazaar has put into the market.
• We are not commission-centric. We are consumer-centric, and we make ourselves so efficient in risk capture and disclosure capture, so that at the point of claim, we are standing there to do that.
• We are very, very comfortable within the EOM framework. At our scale, specifically, you would struggle to find anybody there. Anything that makes the market condition harder plays to your benefit in terms of market share gains.