PhonePe starts Rs 999 health insurance aimed at young first-time buyers

Digital payments and financial services company PhonePe said on December 2 that it has introduced a new health insurance plan that starts at Rs 999 to cater to young first-time health insurance buyers.

The plan offers coverage for hospitalisation expenses including in-patient and ICU hospitalisation, daycare procedures, ambulance charges, and Ayush treatment among others, and can be availed across 7,600 hospitals in the country.

The pandemic has led Indians to look at health insurance more seriously and there has been a steep rise in online purchase of insurance. To make it easier for young customers to purchase the cover, PhonePe said that it has put in place a three-step process.

Users only need to provide details like name, age, gender, and email ID to buy the policy, eliminating the otherwise cumbersome processes that new and young buyers are deterred by.

Gunjan Ghai, VP and Head of Insurance at PhonePe said, “We believe that 335+ million PhonePe users will greatly benefit from this offering which can be purchased quickly and easily on the PhonePe app. Our offering is designed with the idea that all Indians deserve access to high quality and affordable Health Insurance - irrespective of their income, or education status."

After Walmart-backed PhonePe became the largest player on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with a 47 percent share in monthly payment values, the company has been expanding its ambit of financial services offerings.

The company had entered the insurtech space in 2020 with an insurance corporate agent licence, which allowed it to partner with only three insurance companies per category i.e. health, life and general.

In August this year, PhonePe secured an insurance broking licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) which allows the company to distribute insurance products from all insurance companies in India.

It has now introduced more products under international travel insurance, life insurance, insurance for the COVID-19 pandemic, and accident insurance among others.

PhonePe has also forayed into the mutual fund space and offers investments across categories such as tax-saving funds and liquid funds.

The company's super app proposition is a rival to payments player Paytm. Like Paytm's wallet, PhonePe's core payments product UPI serves as its customer acquisition funnel leading users to purchase other services on the platform.