Flipkart, India’s largest ecommerce startup, will start selling insurance products on its platform including general, life and health insurance. According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, the ecommerce firm will also venture into other categories such as motor insurance later.
In the filings, the company stated, “The company intends to venture into the new line of business viz., solicitation and servicing of insurance policies by acting as a Corporate Agent. In this regard, the company is required to alter its objects clause in order to align its main objects clause in line with the new line of business the company proposes to undertake.”
However, Flipkart can launch this product only after obtaining regulatory approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA.) Under IRDA’s regulations, Flipkart can partner with three other insurers under each of insurance category to facilitate and provide end to end transactions. The exact time of the launch, however, cannot be specified as it is not clear whether the company has already obtained the regulatory approval.
Flipkart’s intentions to venture into financial services marketplace was first revealed in June this year. The insurance industry of India has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. According to sources, the company was also in talks with a slew of digital lending startups with the hope to add a new revenue generating business to its suite of offerings.
The company is leaving no stones unturned to capture the highest position in the Indian ecommerce market. Flipkart also received a $ 4 billion war chest from SoftBank, Microsoft, Tencent and eBay earlier this year. The investments and backing by some of the biggest venture capital firms has given the ecommerce company the space to look into investing in other IoT areas. For this purpose, Flipkart even relaunched its grocery offering service Supermart and initiated discussions with vertical ecommerce players like Swiggy, BookmyShow, Urbanclap, Urban Ladder and Pepperfry.
