Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, has announced plans to capitalise its Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), Airtel Money Limited, with ₹20,000 crore ($2.2 billion) over the next few years, with the aim of building a large-scale lending platform.
The investment, one of the most significant outside of Airtel’s core telecommunications business, was disclosed on Monday and follows an order last week granting Airtel Money Limited a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Type II non-deposit accepting NBFC. Airtel Money received its NBFC license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 13, 2026.
Under the proposal, Airtel will fund about 70% of the capital infusion, with the remaining 30% coming from its promoter group via Bharti Enterprises, according to coverage in Moneycontrol and The Economic Times.
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The Indian NBFC ecosystem includes thousands of entities, but asset concentration is high among large players such as Bajaj Finance and Jio Financial Services. Airtel’s ₹20,000 crore capital plan gives it immediate scale capability. Capital plus data plus distribution creates instant competitive positioning.
“The success of our LSP platform over the past two years is proof of our ability to combine technology, data, and customer trust to deliver impact at a national scale. We have built one of India’s most trusted and scalable digital credit engines—reaching millions with high‑quality credit supported by industry‑best performance metrics,” said Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman, Bharti Airtel. “Our NBFC expansion strengthens this foundation and reflects our ambition to build a differentiated, future‑ready digital lending business – one that stands for trust, innovation, and financial inclusion.”
Expansion of Digital Lending Capabilities
The planned NBFC expansion builds on a digital credit engine Airtel has developed over the past two years through its lending service provider (LSP) model. The platform, which integrates technology, data analytics and underwriting tools, has already disbursed over ₹9,000 crore in loans, according to the company release.
Industry analysts say the move reflects broader trends in India’s fintech ecosystem, where telecom operators and large digital platforms are increasingly attempting to leverage customer bases and data to enter lending and payments markets. Care Edge Ratings notes that India’s formal credit-to-GDP ratio is about 53%, so there is still a lot of room for lenders to reach people who have less access to credit.
Airtel already holds one of India’s largest digital footprints, with a customer base exceeding 600 million across India and select international markets. Leveraging that reach, along with customer data and analytics, Airtel intends to integrate financial services more closely into its wider digital ecosystem, which includes mobile services, payments, cloud services, and enterprise solutions.
