Neobanking startup Fi, backed by investors such as Peak XV and Temasek, has secured a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence from the Reserve Bank of India, enabling it to provide loans from its own books.
With this, Fi has joined the likes of Jupiter, Groww and Cred, all of which got into the lending business either by getting a fresh licence or by acquiring another NBFC.
Emailed queries to Fi cofounder Sujith Narayanan did not elicit any response. Moneycontrol was the first news website to publish this development.
In recent years, fintech startups have pursued NBFC licences to streamline their entry into lending, given the RBI’s stringent regulations on online credit disbursal.
Acquiring an NBFC licence empowers fintechs to offer loans from their own books, thus establishing an asset base. Without this licence, they are limited to acting as intermediaries to connect borrowers with banks and other NBFCs.
Founded by former Google executives, Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani in 2019, Fi provides zero-balance savings accounts and other services like investments, payments and savings to its users. The company has raised around $160 million in equity from major investors like Ribbit Capital, Alpha Wave Global, Temasek and others.
ET had previously reported that while the RBI has become more open to granting lending licences to fintech entities, several players including Fi, Pune-based fintech unicorn One Card, and ‘buy now, pay later’ startup Uni Cards have encountered obstacles in obtaining the licence.
