Indian fintech major MobiKwik is setting ambitious growth targets for its newly approved lending business, with plans to build a loan portfolio worth nearly $500 million over the next three to five years. The move marks a major strategic shift for the digital payments platform as it deepens its presence in India’s increasingly competitive financial services sector.
The company’s expansion plans follow a key regulatory milestone achieved last month, when the Reserve Bank of India granted MobiKwik approval to operate as a non-banking financial company (NBFC). The licence allows the fintech firm to lend directly from its balance sheet rather than function solely as an intermediary between customers and partner financial institutions.
Chief Executive Officer Bipin Preet Singh said the company aims to grow its in-house loan book to around 50 billion rupees, or roughly $522 million, as it expands lending across both consumer and merchant segments. According to Singh, building a small lending business is not the company’s objective. Instead, MobiKwik wants to establish itself as a meaningful player in India’s broader digital credit ecosystem.
The Gurugram-based company currently operates as a lending service provider, partnering with banks and NBFCs to distribute loans to users through its platform. That model helped MobiKwik build a lending portfolio worth nearly 20 billion rupees alongside partner institutions. However, executives believe having its own NBFC arm will provide greater control over product development, margins, and risk management.
The company expects to begin lending operations through its NBFC unit, MobiKwik Financial Services, during the December quarter of 2026. Initially, the focus will remain on consumer lending products, but the firm is already preparing to aggressively expand into merchant financing — an area executives believe offers significant long-term growth potential.
Merchant lending has become one of the fastest-growing segments within India’s fintech industry as millions of small businesses increasingly adopt digital payment systems. Companies are using transaction data generated through payment apps to evaluate creditworthiness and offer working capital loans to shopkeepers, traders, and small enterprises that often struggle to access traditional bank financing.
Like many fintech firms in India, MobiKwik has faced pressure in its core payments business because of the growing dominance of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). While UPI has transformed digital payments adoption across the country, it has also compressed margins for payment companies that rely heavily on transaction revenue.
Industry analysts say the RBI licence gives MobiKwik a strategic advantage at a time when India’s fintech sector is entering a more mature and regulated phase. Over the past few years, regulators have tightened oversight of digital lending practices, data usage, and fintech partnerships in an effort to improve consumer protection and financial stability. Having a licensed NBFC structure may allow companies greater flexibility and regulatory clarity going forward.
India’s digital lending market continues to attract strong investor interest despite recent regulatory tightening. Rising smartphone penetration, expanding digital payments infrastructure, and growing consumer demand for quick credit have created major opportunities for fintech lenders. At the same time, competition remains intense, with companies such as Paytm, PhonePe, and several traditional financial institutions also expanding aggressively into digital lending.
