Yashish Dahiya: The journey of building PolicyBazaar

Who is the founder of Policy Bazaar?

Yashish Dahiya is the CEO of PB fintech. Yashish , Alok Bansal, and Avaneesh Nirjir (Left in 2011) are the co-founders of Policybazaar which is the flagship platform of PB Fintech Ltd. It is one of India's largest online insurance platforms.

The story of Yashish Dahiya, one of the founders of Policybazaar, resonates deeply with anyone who has ever felt out of place or struggled to find their identity. It's a tale of perseverance, resilience, and unwavering determination. Today, Policybazaar stands tall as one of India’s most prominent homegrown brands, but the path to this success was neither easy nor linear. Dahiya’s journey is as much about overcoming personal battles as it is about creating an impact-driven, successful business.

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Yashish Dahiya Early days and life

Dahiya was born into an Army family in 1972, his early dream was to serve the country. His father Jogiram Dhahiya was a colonel. As a child, his dreams used to fluctuate with every new school. He lived in different states of the country. He was an extroverted child till he was 8 years old. After that, he went to a hostel and his struggles began in life. As an eight-year-old boy, he found himself feeling like a misfit among his peers. 

He says he wasn't super confident as a child in his hostel days. There was always some fight happening between his classmates. His peers overshadowed him, and he struggled to find his place in a world that often seemed too big for him. Gradually, he became an introverted person.

Dahiya did not think of going to IIT till 11th, when he was in St. Columbus and a few of his classmates encouraged him as his maths and physics were pretty good. He cleared the IIT exam and got admission to IIT in Delhi where he completed his B.tech. In IIT, he was famous because of his sports. Dahiya found a glimmer of hope, his identity came through running. 

Everyone started recognizing him for running. These victories ignited confidence in him and later fuelled his ambitious journey as an entrepreneur. Running, both literally and metaphorically, became his way forward. It was this simple act that taught him the power of perseverance and the value of self-belief. Later,  Dahiya earned a postgraduate diploma from IIM and also completed his MBA from INSEAD.

Yashish Dahiya began his professional career in 1996 as a Business Unit Head at Illinois Tool Works. In 2001, he joined Bain & Co. as a management consultant. Later he served as Managing Director at Ebookers Plc for 2 years. In 2005, Yashish founded First Europa, an insurance aggregator, where he acted as CEO. This determination carried him through various stages of life, from excelling in his education to carving a niche for himself in the startup world. These experiences also helped him to found PB.

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Birth of Policy Bazaar 

The entrepreneurial venture, Policybazaar, wasn't just a business idea. The story started when Yashish Dahiya’s father was cheated by a few insurance brokers. They faced very high financial losses. This was the time when he learned about the huge fraud committed by policy agents.

The transactions looked clean on the face of it but the reality emerged when he looked in closely. This got him thinking about how people are getting duped, so he came into being PolicyBazaar. So Dahiya went on a crusade and co-founded Policy Bazaar, which allows consumers to compare insurance policies and purchase a policy that makes sense for them. He wanted to make it fraud-free. He wanted to build something solid, rooted in impact and progress.

Policybazaar was founded in 2008 with one objective to bring transparency in insurance. They started the company with just 14 hardworking individuals. Yashish Dahiya started with his two friends and co-founders Alok Bansal, and Avaneesh Nirjar. In the beginning, it was an insurance comparison website. At that time, the Indian insurance industry lacked transparency and policies were mostly sold through agents.

Challenges 

Indeed, Policybazaar is no ordinary startup. The company has weathered many storms to emerge as a unique, homegrown brand that has revolutionised the insurance sector in India. In the starting years, people did not believe in them. The insurance selling companies don’t want to sell their product through policy bazaar websites. They used to believe that this idea of digital policy comparison would not work in the insurance market. He had a grand vision, and finally, he persuaded some companies.

Despite this grand vision, Dahiya remains grounded in his belief that progress is made through daily, consistent effort. His mantra for building a successful business has always been to “make progress every day.” This simple but powerful approach is what has driven Policybazaar through its ups and downs. With time the company has improved its features.

In 2013, they introduced a feature enabling users to not only compare but also purchase policies directly from their website. In 2014, they expanded their offerings with additional insurance types and launched their app to enhance customer experience. This propelled the company to become India's second-largest fintech unicorn in 2018. The company also launched its IPO in 2021. 

Dahiya's goal has always been clear: to inspire confidence in the customer. This commitment was further reinforced with Policybazaar’s recent tagline, “Har Family Hogi Insured” (Every Family Will Be Insured), reflecting the brand’s mission of making financial security accessible across Indian households.

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Yashish Dahiya Family

But behind the public success lies a more personal story of sacrifice and resilience. For Dahiya, the journey of Policybazaar is not just his own; it belongs to his family—both his work family at Policybazaar and his biological family. Yashish Dahiya is married to Shikha Dahiya and the couple are blessed with two children. He often spoke in his few interviews about the emotional toll his frequent travels between India and the UK took on his family. 

His daughter eventually understood his dual responsibility, but his young son often cried at their goodbyes, unable to grasp why his father had to leave so often. His family has also sacrificed along with him for the business. He says a sense of shared responsibility and selflessness lies at the heart of Policybazaar's culture. Dahiya humbly acknowledges he doesn't do things to be a leader. he likes being free, and he assumes that others are like him.

Yashish Dahiya as Ironman 

Yashish is an outdoor enthusiast and fitness aficionado. He completed the Triathlon in Kalmar, Sweden (which included back-to-back swimming, cycling, and running), and holds the fifth-fastest Ironman and third-fastest half Ironman timings among Indians. He is known by the name ‘Ironman’ for completing the Ironman triathlon in less than 12 hours. He also enjoys skiing with his family.

Yashish Dahiya’s journey is not just the story of building a billion-dollar startup; it’s a story of courage, empathy, and perseverance. It’s a testament to how personal struggles can shape our professional lives in profound ways, and how one man’s quest for clarity and impact has transformed an entire industry. Policybazaar’s success is a reflection of Dahiya’s vision, but more importantly, it’s a reflection of the sacrifices made along the way.

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