PhonePe Forays Into Secured Lending

PhonePe on Thursday expanded its loan distribution offerings with a foray into secured lending products on its platform.

Through its own app, the fintech major will now offer mutual fund loans, gold loans, bike loans, car loans, home loans, and education loans in partnership with various banks, non-banking financial companies, and fintechs.

PhonePe has currently partnered with 15 entities, including Tata Capital, L&T Finance, Hero FinCorp, Muthoot Fincorp, and DMI Housing Finance, and aims to scale to 25 by the next quarter.

The loan application journey is initiated within PhonePe’s app, while other parts of the process and checks will involve heading to other platforms, according to Hemant Gala, chief executive officer at PhonePe Lending.

"Lenders are investing heavily in digitising secured loan journeys, and customers are adapting to the digitisation at a rapid pace. We believe it’s a great time to revolutionise the secured lending product experience for the customers working with the lending ecosystem," Gala said.

When asked about the loan value disbursement targets, Gala said the only current goal is to onboard more partners and reach 35–40 partners over the next 3–6 months. "There will be a whole lot of large names—large banks, large NBFCs, midsize NBFCs, and fintechs—coming in and partnering with us," he said.