‘The evolution of PolicyBazaar has happened by following the consumers’

“Insurance is something that we all know about, but tend to ignore. For PolicyBazaar, it’s not about bringing insurance to consumers; we have brought consumers to insurance. That’s an interesting challenge, because very few consumers actually buy insurance. Therefore, it has been our mission and effort to change the scenario,” said Sarbvir Singh, CEO of PolicyBazaar, who participated in a fireside chat with Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld and exchange4media at e4m D2C Revolution Summit and Awards, 2022. 

Singh said, “The first point to recognize about PolicyBazaar is that we are a consumer-first company. Much before the whole D2C concept was in fashion, we decided that we have to represent the consumer in an industry which was agent-first. I think the evolution of PolicyBazaar has happened by following the consumers. The journey is now not even half-complete, and we have a long way to go.”  

Dr. Batra pointed out that the insurance sector is still under-penetrated in India as less than 4.2% of our population has access to insurance. He enquired how PolicyBazaar is leveraging digital to increase that percentage. He also asked as a D2C brand, what’s their goal in tier II and tier III cities, where the penetration of insurance is even lesser. 

Singh said, “The challenge with insurance is two-fold. First is awareness. One needs to be aware of what a health insurance or a term insurance means. Secondly, as a country, India is very skeptical. If I ask you to give money today and tell you that you will get something later, your first reaction would be, ‘I will see later.’ So, creating that trust is a very important factor. Therefore, the challenge is that you have to be present and explain everything to people, and you have to do it one-on-one. I think digital is the only medium where it is possible. Because in larger cities, I can have branches and people. But to do this at a personal level in smaller towns, is never going to be economical. So, the rise of PolicyBazaar and the rise of digital have actually mirrored each other. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, a huge number of people purchased insurance from PolicyBazaar for the first time. Five years ago, less than 30% of our business would come from tier II and tier III cities. Today, over 60% of our business comes from those areas. In these five years, we have also grown two-and-a-half times.”

Dr. Batra said that insurance seemed to be an unlikely category for digital three to four years ago. But now, it has ramped up. He enquired about the other categories which are still not touched by digital in a big way. 

Singh said, “As far as financial services are concerned, it has two parts. One is the distribution part, and a lot of startups and people like us are doing that. The second part, which is on the product side, is risk. This second part is still largely untouched by fintech. The reason behind this is that this part tends to be regulated. In this part, you cannot do whatever you feel like at the front-end. In an insurance company, if I take your money and disappear after six months or one year, I will leave the whole bunch of people in lurch. Hence, it has to be regulated. And when something is regulated, it requires certain disciplines and mindsets. In PolicyBazaar, apart from selling policies, we also focus on the service part. For example, we offer services when there is any change in the policy or when there’s a moment of claim, etc. We are a part of the moment of claim, as much as we are part of the sales process. And I think this is something that others will also have to do. So, we will have to get your hands dirty and get into the real part of the business, and not just the front-end.”