Fintech giant PhonePe has reportedly been granted an insurance broking license from the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India). This will allow PhonePe to sell insurance products from all insurance firms in India.
Previously, PhonePe had a limited insurance license, which enabled the startup to collaborate with only three insurance firms per category. With this license, the company will be able to provide a wider variety of insurance products to its users. The general broking license will aid PhonePe to provide customized product recommendations to its user base of more than 300 million.
Gunjan Ghai, the Head of Insurance and Vice President at PhonePe, commented that the license is a big achievement in the company’s expedition in the insurance sector. He added that the approval will help in achieving the goal of becoming a one-stop shop for all the insurance needs of PhonePe’s consumers.
PhonePe unveiled its insurance services in January last year, providing term insurance, health insurance, and general insurance to its users. According to the company’s press release, the immense response from millions of consumers to its early launches of insurance products prompted PhonePe to register for an insurance broking license.
In 2020, OCL (One97 Communications Ltd), owner of the financial and payment services platform Paytm, received its insurance broking license from the IRDAI, allowing it to provide insurance products across different categories like life, health as well as auto. The Delhi-based firm reportedly stated that it would collaborate with 20 leading insurance companies in India, and further consolidate with 30 more.
PhonePe, which was divested by Flipkart in 2020, mentioned that it is processing close to 1.5 billion transactions in a month and around 80% of its users are from Tier III and II regions and beyond.
For the record, PhonePe is an Indian financial services and digital payments company based in Bengaluru. The company was founded in December 2015 by Burzin Engineer, Rahul Chari, and Sameer Nigam.
Source credits:
https://yourstory.com/2021/08/phonepe-gets-insurance-broking-license-from-irdai/amp
