On April 27, 2026, One MobiKwik Systems Limited disclosed that the Reserve Bank of India had approved its application to operate a Non-Banking Financial Company, a clearance the Gurugram-based fintech received in under four months and one that directly unlocks its push into in-house lending.
Shares hit an intraday high of ₹243 on April 28, 2026, rising 19.97% from the previous close of ₹202.55. The stock closed at ₹224.80 on the BSE on announcement day, up 10.98%, and extended gains the following session. Across two trading days, the cumulative rally touched nearly 20%. Market capitalisation reached ₹1,826 crore at the intraday peak.
The trigger was unambiguous. On April 27, MobiKwik confirmed via official press release that its group entity had received RBI approval to establish MobiKwik Financial Services Private Limited (MFSPL), a wholly owned NBFC subsidiary. The licence allows the company to originate, disburse, and hold loans on its own balance sheet, something it could not do as a payment platform distributing credit through third parties. MobiKwik had previously informed exchanges of an initial capital commitment of ₹9.99 crore into the subsidiary, which is authorised to undertake lending, leasing, and hire purchase across movable and immovable assets.
The third piece of a deliberate regulatory strategy
The NBFC approval is the third regulatory licence MobiKwik has secured in under 12 months, completing what CFO Upasana Taku publicly described as a full fintech stack. Zaakpay, MobiKwik’s payment gateway subsidiary, received the final Payment Aggregator (PA) licence from the RBI in May 2025. In February 2026, the company secured BSE approval for stockbroking. The NBFC is the final piece.
“Last year, we received the PA licence, the broking licence and now this. We are plugging all the gaps in terms of having these licences which offer us the ability to have a full fintech stack,” Taku told Business Standard. Market analysts described the NBFC as the “missing piece” of MobiKwik’s ecosystem, with the three licences collectively enabling payments, investing, and direct lending under one platform. Taku also noted that the RBI granted the approval in under four months, describing it as a reflection of regulatory confidence in the company’s governance.
What the NBFC licence actually changes
Until now, MobiKwik’s credit products, including its Zip buy-now-pay-later offering and personal loans, were structured as distribution arrangements with 12 active lending partners. The NBFC changes the economics: by bringing credit operations in-house through MFSPL, MobiKwik can capture the full lending margin rather than passing it to originating partners. Taku confirmed that existing partnerships with the 12 lenders will be maintained; the NBFC is additive, not a replacement.
MFSPL will offer secured and unsecured loans to consumers and small businesses, with a geographic focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The company plans to apply its AI and machine learning models to data from 186.6 million registered users and 4.8 million merchants to underwrite customers without conventional credit histories. Co-lending arrangements with public and private sector banks are also a stated goal, which MobiKwik says will lower the cost of capital over time.
Launch timeline: CY2026, pending Certificate of Registration
NBFC operations will commence only after the company receives a Certificate of Registration (CoR) from the RBI and meets all associated regulatory conditions, a process Taku confirmed will also require capital infusion and additional talent. The target is CY2026: “We do expect that we should be able to launch it in this calendar year and start the first few disbursals,” she told Business Standard. Loan book size, capital allocation, and disbursement targets for FY27 are expected to be addressed at the Q4 FY26 earnings call in May 2026, the first opportunity for management to put concrete numbers behind the strategy.
Operational momentum backs the thesis
Customer-initiated UPI transactions grew from 54 million in Q3 FY25 to 172.9 million in Q3 FY26, a 3.2x year-on-year increase, against an industry-wide rate of 29%, placing MobiKwik among the five fastest-growing UPI apps in India. Payment GMV reached ₹48,064 crore in Q3 FY26, up 63% YoY. ZIP EMI GMV rose 126% YoY to ₹900 crore, with 1.51 million activated users, the credit product the NBFC will directly build on.
Revenue grew at a three-year CAGR of 30.45%, reaching ₹288.95 crore in Q3 FY26, up 7.22% year-on-year. Q3 FY26 was also MobiKwik’s first quarter of net profit: ₹4.05 crore, against a loss of ₹55.28 crore in Q3 FY25. The directional shift from deep losses toward profitability is what makes the NBFC approval commercially credible rather than purely speculative.
Context: the stock remains well below its peak
The rally still leaves MobiKwik significantly below its 52-week high of ₹334. The stock had declined 34.2% over the prior six months. Return on equity stands at -32.4% and return on capital employed at -14.6%. Promoters hold 25.1%; FIIs, 3.2%; DIIs, 4.8%; and public shareholders 67%, a high-float structure that amplifies moves on material news.
Until then, the 20% rally prices in regulatory optionality and an improving operating trajectory, not demonstrated lending performance.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why did MobiKwik shares rise 20% in two days?
The rally was triggered by the RBI approving MobiKwik’s application to operate an NBFC on April 27, 2026. This allows the company to directly originate and hold loans on its own balance sheet, rather than acting as a distributor for partner lenders, a shift expected to improve margins and accelerate credit product launches.
What is MobiKwik Financial Services Private Limited (MFSPL)?
MFSPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of One MobiKwik Systems that will serve as the company’s licensed lending arm. It is authorised to offer secured and unsecured loans to consumers and small businesses, as well as undertake leasing and hire purchase activities. The company has committed ₹9.99 crore as initial capital. Operations will begin once the RBI issues a Certificate of Registration.
When will MobiKwik’s NBFC start lending?
CFO Upasana Taku confirmed to Business Standard that the company targets the first disbursals by the end of calendar year 2026, subject to receiving the Certificate of Registration from the RBI, completing a capital infusion, and hiring the required talent.
Does MobiKwik still have its 12 lending partnerships?
Yes. Taku confirmed that existing co-lending and distribution arrangements with 12 partner lenders will continue alongside MFSPL. The NBFC is an additive structure that gives MobiKwik the option to originate loans directly, not a replacement for current partnerships.
What other licences has MobiKwik received recently?
In the 12 months before the NBFC approval, MobiKwik secured two other key licences: Zaakpay received its final Payment Aggregator (PA) licence from the RBI in May 2025, and the company obtained BSE approval for stock broking in February 2026. The NBFC completes what management calls the company’s “full fintech stack.”
Is MobiKwik profitable?
MobiKwik reported its first quarterly net profit of ₹4.05 crore in Q3 FY26 (quarter ended December 2025), against a loss of ₹55.28 crore in the same quarter the previous year. However, return on equity remains negative at -32.4%, and the stock trades well below its 52-week high of ₹334.
