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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
The fintech’s financial services business has done reasonably well in Q4 FY26. But upping its lending game without the NBFC tag will be a tall task.
India’s fintech companies typically follow a well-defined path: start with payments, offer cashbacks and incentives, launch a variety of products (stockbroking, insurance), partner with banks to grant loans and finally seek a non-banking financial services, or NBFC, licence to lend directly to customers.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm is turning out to be an exception. After the Reserve Bank of India revoked its payment bank licence in April, there has been widespread speculation over whether the Noida-headquartered company would ever get an NBFC licence.
For now, it seems the fintech is not really looking for a licence. “We're not super …
Its Rs 1,050 crore bet on the five-year-old company—valued at an implied 11.2x revenue multiple and a promoter with baggage—raises serious questions around due diligence.
The fintech’s NBFC has seen its loan book decline by 92% in just two years and its global ambition has come undone. The company, though, keeps borrowing, restructuring and diversifying.
Purpose-driven finance has powered the digital lender’s growth, but its durability remains in question.
