PB Fintech wipes out nearly a decade of revenue in one day

The sell-off wiped as much as ₹31,426 crore from PB Fintech’s market value in a single session — more than the company’s cumulative revenue over the eight years for which Bloomberg has data.

PB Fintech reported revenue of ₹6,794 crore in FY26, taking its cumulative revenue over the eight-year period to ₹21,342 crore. The company, which reported losses through FY23, posted a net profit of ₹670 crore in FY26, although its retained earnings remained negative at ₹1,325 crore at the end of the year.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) late Wednesday proposed tighter limits on insurers’ management expenses and commission cuts of as much as one-half to two-thirds in health, term and motor insurance. The proposals are aimed at curbing distribution costs and bringing greater discipline to the industry.

Analysts said the proposed changes could hurt the economics of banks and insurance businesses by reducing fee pools from credit-life, property and other loan-linked insurance products.

“This is a risk for PB Fintech/Turtlemint Fintech Solutions, noting that a 10% cut in new-business commission rates would translate into a 10%-12% fall in their earnings,” Jefferies wrote in an investor note.

According to analysts, the proposals could reduce insurance fee income for banks and digital brokers by as much as 90% in some high-margin categories.

The impact extended across financial stocks. Turtlemint Fintech Solutions fell 20%, while Max Financial Services and L&T Finance declined about 10% each. HDFC Life Insurance Company fell 6.2%.Shares of 18 insurance companies, distributors and lenders collectively shed ₹1.54 lakh crore in market value. Bajaj Finance lost ₹38,103 crore, while Axis Bank and HDFC Bank saw ₹17,654 crore and ₹12,873 crore, respectively, wiped off their market capitalisations.

The proposed tightening of insurance commission caps from FY28 is also expected to weigh on banks’ bancassurance income, particularly fees from credit-protection products.

Bancassurance contributed 9% of Axis Bank’s FY26 profit before tax and 7% of HDFC Bank’s. The contribution was higher at IndusInd Bank and IDFC First Bank, at 18% and 17%, respectively.

Shares of IDFC First Bank and IndusInd Bank fell about 5% in Thursday’s trading.

One-day market cap losses