BharatPe Acquires NBFC Trillion Loans, Picks Up 51% Stake

BharatPe has acquired the non-banking financial company ‘NBFC Trillion Loans’ by taking majority of its stake. The NBFC will be operated as an independent entity.

Indian fintech unicorn BharatPe has acquired a 51% stake in Mumbai-based non-bank lender Trillion Loans, in a move aimed at accelerating its journey to profitability and providing access to credit to its merchant partners. 

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but BharatPe has infused a substantial amount of investment into Trillion Loans to grow the latter’s loan book. 

Trillion Loans will operate as an independent entity with its own team, but under the supervision of the board. 

Ravindra Pandey, retired SBI banker and adviser to the Board of BharatPe, will become non-executive chairman of Trillionloans Fintech, while Nalin Negi, CFO and interim CEO of BharatPe, and Sabyasachi Senapati, head of BharatPe’s banking vertical, have also been appointed to Trillion Loans’ board.

The acquisition is in line with BharatPe’s vision to address the credit gap for millions of businesses and consumers in the country. 

The Gurugram-based fintech unicorn, which is valued at around $3bn, has facilitated loans of over INR5bn ($66.8m) every month to its merchant partners. 

It will explore partnerships with other fintech firms and other companies to enable credit across a diverse set of businesses and consumers. 

The acquisition also puts BharatPe in the league of well-funded peers such as Cred and LendingKart in growing their credit businesses.

Several big fintech players in India have been acquiring smaller non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) since the Reserve Bank of India made it harder for fintech players to facilitate digital loans without an NBFC license. 

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Meanwhile, BharatPe has also entered the buy now pay later segment with the launch of PostPe, and its consortium with Centrum Financial Services received a license from the Reserve Bank of India to run a small finance bank. In June 2022, BharatPe acquired multi-brand loyalty programme Payback India.