Policybazaar trades lower for sixth day; tanks 51% from 52-week high

The stock was trading at its new low, having fallen 29 per cent in the past six days. With this, the stock is now 26 per cent lower as against its issue price of Rs 980 apiece.

Shares of PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, remained under pressure and were trading lower for the sixth straight trading day at Rs 726, down 6.5 per cent on the BSE in Tuesday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise range-bound market.

The stock was trading at its new low, having fallen 29 per cent in the past six days. With the sharp decline in the market price, the stock is now 26 per cent lower as against its issue price of Rs 980 per share.

After today’s fall, it has also corrected 51 per cent from its all-time high of Rs 1,470 hit on November 17, 2021. Today, it was down 12 per cent against its issue price of Rs 980 per share. PB Fintech made its stock market debut on November 15, 2021.

At 01:52 pm, it was trading 4 per cent lower at Rs 746.65, as compared to a 0.21 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

A continued decline in the stock price has also seen PB Fintech’s market capitalisation (market cap) slipping below the Rs 40,000 crore mark, to Rs 33,561 crore currently, BSE data showed. With this, the player has also dropped out from the top-100 most valued listed companies in terms of market cap. At the all-time high level, the company’s market cap stood at Rs 66,077 crore.

PB Fintech is the leading online platform for insurance & lending products thereby providing access to insurance, credit and other financial products. It is India’s largest online platform for insurance (PolicyBazaar) and lending (Paisabazaar) products leveraging the power of technology, data and innovation.

Insurance and consumer credit in India are industries with high secular growth potential. The commission payouts by these industries represent a large and growing revenue pool for distributors – US$6 billion- was paid out in aggregate by insurers in F20, according to (IRDA - Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) and ~US$3.5 billion is the revenue potential from lenders, said brokerage Morgan Stanley in a December 20, 2021 report.

The brokerage believes that sectoral outlook for insurance (especially retail life protection) and consumer credit presently look skewed to the upside. The Covid-19 risk, newsflow around the competitive environment, adverse regulation, and the entry or exit of large insurer partners could be seen as positive or negative and  are key risks and catalysts for the stock price, it said. Currently, the stock is quoting below the brokerage's target price of Rs 1,160 per share.