PhonePe gets IRDAI license to serve as direct insurance broker

Bengaluru: Digital payments platform PhonePe said on Monday it has been issued an insurance broking license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

Last year, PhonePe entered insurtech sector with a limited insurance 'corporate agent' license which restricted the company to partnering with only three insurance companies per category.

Now, with this new 'direct broking' license, PhonePe can distribute insurance products from all insurance companies in India.

The new broking license also allows PhonePe to start offering personalised product recommendations to its 300-plus million users, and offering a much more diverse portfolio of insurance products for Indian consumers.

Gunjan Ghai, Vice President and Head of Insurance, said this license is a big milestone in the company's insurance journey. "This move to broking will give us further momentum and accelerate our growth in this space."

PhonePe forayed into the insurance segment in January 2020 as a 'corporate agent' and has since launched offerings across general insurance, term insurance and health insurance.

The platform is India's leading digital payments platform with over 300 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, pay at stores, make utility payments, buy gold and make investments.