Bharti Airtel has announced plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in its Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), Airtel Money, over the next few years, as per an official press release.
NBFC is a financial institution that provides banking services without meeting the legal definition of a bank.
The Indian telecom sector giant said it will contribute 70% of this amount, with the remaining 30% coming from the promoter group via Bharti Enterprises Limited. This announcement comes 10 days after Airtel Money received its NBFC licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 13, 2026.
Airtel said its lending service platform (LSP) model has already achieved rapid and widespread adoption, with more than Rs 9,000 crore in disbursements
“Our NBFC expansion strengthens this foundation and reflects our ambition to build a differentiated, future-ready digital lending business,” remarked Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel’s Executive Vice Chairman.
What Are Airtel’s Plans For Its NBFC Arm?
Airtel Money is a mobile commerce service and electronic wallet that enables users to send and receive money, pay bills, and make merchant payments directly from their mobile phones.
With its latest announcement, the Indian telecom giant said that the Airtel Money-led strategic expansion underscores the company’s commitment to deepening financial inclusion and empowering underserved consumers.
Further, the telecom company says that Airtel Money’s disbursement journey will be seamlessly integrated with Airtel’s LSP platform, while maintaining clear operational segregation between the two entities.
“Formal credit-to-GDP ratio in India is at 53%, according to CareEdge Ratings, and highlights the scope for lending in the country,” Airtel’s press release said. This ratio measures the total amount of outstanding debt that formal financial institutions provide to the private non-financial sector (such as households and businesses) relative to a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In India’s case, the credit-to-GDP ratio of 53% suggests that access to formal credit is improving but remains limited compared to the country’s overall economic size, according to CareEdge Ratings.
Airtel said its digital lending expansion will leverage its large customer base in India to build the ‘next growth engine’ and further diversify its portfolio.
To put things into perspective, Airtel’s Q3FY26 earnings report revealed that smartphone users now account for 79% of Airtel’s total mobile customer base.
The telecom company added 5.2 million smartphone users on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis in Q3FY26. Meanwhile, its total Indian customer base stood at 466 million at the end of Q3FY26. This marked a 12.6% year-on-year (YoY) rise compared to Q3FY25, when the figure stood at 414 million.
Why It Matters
Even as Airtel prepares for its foray into the digital lending domain, with investment earmarked for Airtel Money…
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