Payment firm PhonePe receives broking licence from insurance regulator

The broking license will allow it to start offering personalised product recommendations to its more than 300 mn users, and offer a much more diverse portfolio of insurance products for consumers

Walmart-backed payment firm PhonePe on Monday said it has received a broking licence from the insurance regulator, which will enable it to distribute insurance products from all insurance companies in the country.

In a statement, the company said, the new broking licence will allow it to start offering personalised product recommendations to its more than 300 million users, and offer a much more diverse portfolio of insurance products for Indian consumers.

“PhonePe is India’s fastest growing insurtech and this move to broking will give us further momentum and accelerate our growth in this space,” said Gunjan Ghai, vice president & head of insurance at PhonePe.

“We are building a robust, full-service platform for our deeply engaged customer base through innovative products in partnership with high quality insurers. This move will lead us closer to our goal of becoming a one-stop destination for all the insurance needs of our customers,” he further said.

Prior to getting a broking licence, PhonePe, from January 2020, operated as a corporate agent and launched several offerings across general insurance, term insurance and health insurance. However, as a corporate agent, it was only restricted to partner with three insurance companies per category.

Lately, the digital payment firms are leveraging their huge customer base to cross sell financial services products. PhonePe’s rival Paytm has also acquired a broking licence, which enables it to sell products of life and general insurance companies on its platform.