BankBazaar nears Rs 160 Cr revenue in FY23, controls losses

While fintech services marketplace BankBazaar has projected to break even in the current fiscal year (FY24) with Rs 250 crore in revenue, the Chennai-based company’s FY23 number shows it generated Rs 160 crore income even as it narrowed down losses by 15% in the same period.

BankBazaar’s revenue from operations grew 65.6% to Rs 159 crore during FY23 from Rs 96 crore in FY22, according to its consolidated annual statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies.

BankBazaar is a co-branded credit card issuer which also lets you check credit score and cross-sells third-party loans as well as insurance products. The commission earned from the banks on the basis of customer application on its platform was the sole source of revenue for the firm. This income grew 65.6% to Rs 159 crore in FY23.

On the cost side, employee benefits accounted for 47% of its overall expenditure which increased by 14.8% to Rs 92.58 crore in FY23. This also includes Rs 8.25 crore as ESOP costs which were settled in cash. Its advertisement and IT costs grew 27.4% and 56.8% to Rs 28.4 crore and Rs 13.8 crore respectively during FY23.

BankBazaar has incurred Rs 30 crore in financial losses which include (foreign exchange fluctuations, bad debts, and net change in fair value of Mutual funds) and Rs 13 crore towards hire charges assets contracts. Ultimately, its overall expenditure stood at Rs 197 crore during FY23.

Since the company managed to control its expenses, Bankbazaar’s losses contracted 15% to Rs 36.7 crore in FY23 from Rs 43.2 crore in FY22. On a unit level, BankBazaar spent Rs 1.24 to earn a unit of operating revenue.

For a firm that has regularly promised breakeven and even an IPO, with the latest assurance for one in 2024, BankBazaar certainly packs a brand that is stronger than the firm behind it. 

The firm might also wonder about the wisdom of the move into co-branded credit cards, versus doubling down on the personal loans space which has exploded in recent years.

BankBazaar founded in 2008 has delivered some good hits down the years like a digital credit score or even the option to check insurance quotes without submitting personal details, but stayed conservative when faced with a choice on big bets. And that perhaps has left it behind the curve.  It is increasingly obvious that the Indian market has reached a size where short term issues will frequently muddle the long term picture of growth, and that is something startups in the fintech space in particular will have to watch out for.