Now Reading: Navi Finserv to expand loans beyond personal, eyes merchant finance
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Navi Finserv to expand loans beyond personal, eyes merchant finance
Navi Finserv to expand loans beyond personal, eyes merchant finance
Navi Finserv plans to enter merchant financing and loans against mutual funds as it looks to expand beyond personal loans, which currently make up 90% of its ₹13,000 crore loan book. The NBFC, a subsidiary of Navi Ltd, is leveraging the parent's fast-growing UPI platform as a customer funnel, MD and CEO Abhishek Dwivedi told Livemint.
Personal loans have an average ticket size of ₹1.4 lakh, while its newly launched loan against property (LAP) business averages ₹30 lakh. The company disbursed loans worth ₹23,287 crore in FY26, with gross NPAs at 1.3% and net NPAs at 0.3%. About 75% of borrowers are repeat customers. Merchant financing will only begin after Navi gets a payment aggregator licence.
Separately, Navi raised $100 million from Dutch investor Prosus ahead of its planned IPO and has appointed bankers to file draft papers. The UPI platform is now the fourth-largest third-party app by transaction volume, processing 84.25 billion transactions in June 2026.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Navi Finserv's plan to broaden its loan book beyond personal loans into merchant financing and loans against mutual funds signals a strategic shift for the NBFC. Its parent, Navi, has built a massive UPI user base that now serves as a low-cost customer acquisition funnel. This model lets the NBFC lend to people it already transacts with, keeping credit costs low. The big test will be whether it can maintain its discipline on defaults, currently a net NPA of just 0.3%, as it enters new segments where it has no proven track record. Merchant financing, however, is contingent on securing a payment aggregator licence, a regulatory step that will determine how fast this pivot can happen. Watch for the IPO filing timeline: the $100 million Prosus infusion suggests a public listing is imminent, which would bring greater scrutiny to its underwriting standards.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
