Paisabazaar is one of the largest credit marketplaces in India. It allows consumers to access unsecured personal loans, credit cards and similar products from banks and non-bank lenders through online channels. As it builds out its secured credit distribution play, Paisabazaar wants to create a physical presence to help in fulfilment of such loan delivery.
Speaking with ET, Naveen Kukreja, chief executive officer of Paisabazaar, said it has set up a field team of around 100 people in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, targeting secured credit products like home loans and loans against property. It is also testing other products like loans against cars and securities, but those are still in the beta stages. By the end of this fiscal, it intends to scale up this team to 500.
Paisabazaar wants to increase the share of secured credit in its overall disbursals from around 15% last fiscal year to 50% in the near term. In the last few months, it has already expanded it to 33% of the total disbursals.
“We had home loans in the past too, but consumers would check on our platform and typically would close the deal through their builders or bank branch or through the property dealer. Now with a physical presence, we hope to plug that gap in our service delivery,” Kukreja said.
This shift in strategy comes at a time when Paisabazaar has seen a moderation in its disbursals, which is core to its revenue generation. As the larger ecosystem shifts towards secured products under regulatory directives, Paisabazaar is hoping to grab a share of that market.
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In the first quarter of FY25, Paisabazaar disbursed Rs 3,140 crore in loans and around 130,000 credit cards. In the quarter ended June 30 last year, it had disbursed Rs 3,542 crore in loans and 140,000 credit cards.“Any institution as it grows builds a portfolio balance of secured and unsecured assets. Six months back when the RBI tightened the rules for unsecured credit, we also finally shifted our strategy,” Kukreja said.
While Paisabazaar is targeting to increase the share of secured credit in its disbursal volume to 50%, in revenue terms, the proceeds will be smaller given the lower take rates, or commissions, in secured loans. But Kukreja said in the long run, the company would like to co-create products with lenders which can help it access trail revenue from their customers.
Building on its larger financial services play, Kukreja also wants to leverage account aggregator data and its deep integrations with various financial services platforms to offer a holistic financial wealth management option to customers.
“Our credit score product has worked really well. On similar lines, we want to show our customers what is best in terms of investments, savings and insurance,” he said. “Even if we do not build transaction capabilities right now, we want to start by showing the best financial advice to our customers.”
