PB Fintech Arm To Better Insurance Experience With 400-Hospital Network, Says Chairman Dahiya

PB Fintech Ltd., the parent company of Policybazaar, will invest Rs 696 crore for a 33.6% stake in its subsidiary PB Healthcare Services Pvt., which plans to set up a 400-hospital network to improve the private insurance experience, Chairman and Group CEO Yashish Dahiya told NDTV Profit on Tuesday.

PB Healthcare will fully own 1% to 2% of these 400-odd hospitals, he added.

Dahiya explained that the move aims to provide insurance policyholders with a better, more relevant experience, as the company will be focusing on a controlled network, which he described as a “narrow” network.

“While a network is being created, what is called a narrow network. See, the wider your network, the less is your ability to control the experience. So today, what happens is when you buy insurance, you get coverage of Rs 7,000 or Rs 14,000 in hospitals, which doesn't make a lot of sense because that's not as relevant to you. But what now happens is a narrow network is created, of maybe 400 hospitals. So only those 400 hospitals belong to that network. And in those 400 hospitals, you can give a better experience,” he noted.

Dahiya personally plans to buy a 4.2% stake in PB Healthcare for Rs 87 crore. PB Fintech co-founder Alok Bansal will also invest Rs 43.5 crore for a 2.1% stake, signalling strong internal confidence in the subsidiary’s growth. Meanwhile, other Key Management Personnel (KMP) will invest Rs 2.25 crore for a 0.11% stake, taking PB Fintech and its management team’s overall stake to 40%. The investments will take place next financial year.

“The remaining 60% will be held by other investors, other financial investors. We are not at liberty to mention them right now, simply because we are under confidentiality agreements. And, I think once they are done, once the ballot happens and once the postal ballot happens about ninety days post that, the entire transaction, including phase one and phase two of investors, would become public and/or at least would be known. So PB Fintech is a catalyst, an enabler, but is not the eventual owner of this facility. ” Dahiya said.

Explaining the vision behind the investment, Dahiya said that the company is interested in the technology behind the hospital experience. “We have no interest in owning real estate or infrastructure,” he added.

The network will feature a combination of greenfield and brownfield hospitals. The first hospital is anticipated to go live by December 2025.

“I think the first one will go live by December this year. I do appreciate we are a bit late in the sense that this whole process will end by about June or so. So, we have six months to live in the first hospital. We appreciate we can't really invest till, you know, the money is there. So, but, yeah, by December, the first one should go live, and also the network should go live,” he said.

Shares of PB Fintech was trading 5.7% higher at Rs 1,536.90 on the NSE as of 11:23 a.m., while the benchmark Nifty50 was up 0.23% at 22,885.75.