Unsecured lending drove digital lenders rebound in FY26. But risks could re-emerge.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Digital lending firms regained some momentum in FY26, as unsecured lending picked up and growth stabilized after a regulatory-led slowdown the previous year, industry executives and analysts told Mint.The rebound follows a muted FY25, when tighter regulations, rising costs and weakening credit quality sharply slowed expansion. Loan growth, for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with assets under management (AUM) below ₹15,000 crore, fell to about 13% in FY25 from around 36% a year earlier, according to a November 2025 report by Icra Ltd, as unsecured lending and microfinance segments contracted.
Growth is expected to have recovered to 16-18% in FY26.The recovery was led by unsecured personal loans, which formed the bulk of portfolios in FY26. KreditBee grew its assets under management to ₹10,200 crore in FY25 and is expected to reach ₹14,700 crore in FY26, implying 45% year-on-year growth.
Kissht, which reported an 18% decline in FY25 net profit to ₹160.6 crore, posted ₹122 crore profit in the first half of FY26. Moneyview, meanwhile, reported ₹2,373 crore in revenue in the first nine months of FY26, already surpassing its FY25 revenue.Between 2022 and 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rolled out a series of measures to tighten oversight of digital lending, as rising delinquencies exposed risks in fintech-led unsecured credit.
These included digital lending guidelines, caps on default loss guarantees, and stricter norms on loan recognition, culminating in a consolidated framework in May 2025.Industry-level data also points to a pickup in activity. Digital NBFCs accounted for 19% of sanction value and 80% of sanction volume in the first half of FY26, according to the
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