Walmart-Backed PhonePe Partners Banks, NBFCs To Venture Into Secured Lending Space

Digital payments unicorn PhonePe has launched secured lending products on its platform in partnership with banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and other fintech firms.

The company said that it has more than 535 Mn registered users and aims to tap into this user base with credit offerings.

Customers can access to lending solutions on the PhonePe app in six major categories such as mutual fund, gold, bike, car, home and loans against property and education loan.

As a part of this consumer lending offering, PhonePe has partnered with 15 NBFCs and fintechs, including Tata Capital, L&T Finance, Hero FinCorp, Muthoot Fincorp, DMI Housing Finance and Home First Finance, Rupyy, Volt Money, Gradright among others.

The company also aims to scale up its partners to 25 by the next quarter. This lending service will be available under the existing ‘Loan’ section on their PhonePe app. 

Hemant Gala, CEO of PhonePe Lending, said, “This allows us to connect lenders and millions of customers across the country on a single platform to meet their financial.” 

“We are excited to announce the launch of our Secured lending platform across all major categories with top Banks and NBFCs. Lenders are investing heavily in digitising the secured loan journeys and customers are adapting to the digitisation at a rapid pace,” Gala added. 

This comes close on the heels of the fintech major retaining its leading position in the unified payments interface (UPI) ecosystem with 48.87% market share in April at 6.5 Bn transaction across peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions.

It is pertinent to note that PhonePe marked a revenue worth INR 2,914 Cr in FY23, up almost 77% from INR 1,646 Cr in FY22 on the back of offerings like money transfers, mobile recharges and bill payments.

This launch comes at the heart of PhonePe rigorously diversifying its product offerings through new launches in recent times.  

Last year, PhonePe in partnership with banks and NBFCs entered the merchant lending space for its then merchant userbase of 35 Mn. 

The company has already solidified its position as a distribution platform for various insurance offerings by collaborating with players like  Acko and others.

Additionally, It took on Apple and Google with the launch of its Android app marketplace Indus Appstore. 

In 2023, it also ventured into the point-of-sale POS device segment following the likes of Pine Labs, BharatPe and Paytm, among others. In the same year, it launched Share.Market under its subsidiary PhonePe Wealth Broking to enter the stock broking segment.

Apart from these launches, PhonePe is also expanding its UPI offering in other countries in a bid to internationalise the homegrown payments infrastructure. Under this, it has so far partnered with countries like Sri Lanka, UAE, and Singapore.