BENGALURU: PayTM has announced its foray into the insurance segment by securing licence to sell life-and non-life products from the regulatory body, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The payments major said that it will roll out its insurance services through its subsidiary, PayTM Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd (PIBPL).
Besides selling insurance, the company would also provide policy management and claim services for customers. PayTM will leverage its strong base of 16 million merchant partners by allowing them to sell insurance products, through which they can earn on selling insurance products.
The company is in the process of short listing merchant partners who would be trained to become Point of Sales Person (PoSP). It plans to rope in two lakh such PoSPs this year, the payments firm further said.
Last month, PayTM CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced the launch of the company’s point of sale (POS) device to strengthen its presence in offline markets. One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), the parent company of PayTM was earlier offering insurance products under corporate agency business on the platform.
It has surrendered its "corporate agency license" to acquire the brokerage license, the company said. Through its 100 per cent subsidiary PIBPL, the company will now offer insurance products across four categories including two-wheelers, four-wheelers, health and life.
PIBPL has already tied up with 20 leading insurance firms in India and would be integrating with 30 more companies over the next few weeks, it added.The announcement comes days after PayTM's closest rival, PhonePe tied up with Bajaj Allianz General for various travel insurance offerings.
"Our entry into insurance broking is in line with our commitment to broaden our footprint into financial services and offering numerous and customized choices to millions of our customers.
This would enable us to offer a wider suite of product offerings from a large set of insurance partners. The potential of the insurance business is huge as the market is still under-penetrated in India. PayTMm Insurance is going to give millions of our users the option of buying bite-sized insurance products at a competitive price. As a company, we fully rely and trust on our merchant partners, selling insurance products and augmenting their income options while driving penetration," said PayTM president Amit Nayyar.