Who may run an NBFC-P2P platform
RBI rules for NBFC-P2P lending set out the conditions under which a company may run an online marketplace that connects people who want to lend with people who want to borrow, and the newest text is the Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies - Peer to Peer Lending Platform) Directions, 2025, dated 28 November 2025. They consolidate earlier rules, take effect when placed on the Reserve Bank website and state that the existing peer-to-peer directions stand repealed.
Only an Indian-incorporated company can apply. It needs a Certificate of Registration from the Reserve Bank and net owned funds of at least Rs 2 crore. Applications go through the PRAVAAH portal, and an in-principle approval stays valid for 12 months. An existing NBFC cannot operate as an NBFC-P2P at the same time.
A Reserve Bank FAQ updated on 3 September 2025 adds two clarifications. A website that only helps banks or NBFCs find borrowers is not a peer-to-peer platform. And the Rs 2 crore of capital has to be in place before the certificate is issued, not promised for later.
For a lender or borrower this means the first check is simple: does the company hold the certificate, and under which name? A trading name on a website may differ from the registered company.
What the platform is and is not allowed to be
The directions treat the platform as an intermediary only. It may not accept deposits, lend on its own account, guarantee credit or take credit risk. If a borrower defaults, lenders bear the loss. Only clean loans, meaning loans without security, are allowed, so a platform cannot take gold, property or vehicles as collateral.
The list of prohibitions is long and specific. A platform may not hold lender or borrower funds on its balance sheet, may not cross-sell products other than loan insurance and may not handle cash. It may not allow international fund flows, and it must store participant data inside India.
The August 2024 review had already tightened several points. No platform may deploy lenders’ funds beyond what the directions allow, or use one lender’s money to repay another. Matching inside closed user groups, for example people brought in through an affiliate, was barred, and fees that depend on whether the borrower repays were prohibited.
Existing bans were kept: no credit enhancement or guarantee, no cross-selling of credit-enhancing insurance, no promotion as an investment product with assured returns or liquidity, and no assurance of recovery.
Taken together, these prohibitions explain why a P2P platform looks nothing like a bank. It earns fees for matching and servicing, it cannot promise anything about repayment, and it cannot lend a rupee of its own.
RBI rules for NBFC-P2P lending: caps for lenders and borrowers
Numbers in the 2025 text limit how much any one person can place or raise. A lender’s total exposure across all platforms is capped at Rs 50 lakh. Where a lender has placed more than Rs 10 lakh, a certificate from a practising chartered accountant showing a minimum net worth of Rs 50 lakh is required.
A borrower’s total across all NBFC-P2P platforms is capped at Rs 10 lakh. A single lender may lend no more than Rs 50,000 to a single borrower across platforms. The maximum maturity of a loan is 36 months, and the platform’s leverage ratio may not exceed two.
What the caps mean in practice
A person with Rs 5 lakh to place could in principle spread it over at least ten borrowers if each receives the maximum Rs 50,000. Concentration in one borrower is blocked by design. A borrower who needs more than Rs 10 lakh cannot get it from these platforms, whatever the purpose.
The 2025 directions are the current reference, and older descriptions of the 2017 text may differ, so rely on the Reserve Bank’s latest wording for any cap.
Escrow, settlement and the handling of money
Money does not pass through the platform’s own accounts. The directions call for two escrow accounts operated through a bank-promoted trustee. Balances may not stay in the lender or borrower escrow beyond the next working day, a rule shortened to T+1, which the FAQ explains means one bank working day.
The Reserve Bank first set the escrow time limit in its August 2024 circular, to apply 90 days afterwards, which fell around mid-November 2024. Cash transactions are prohibited, so repayments must move through banking channels.
This design is meant to keep customers’ money separate from the platform’s own. If the platform fails, the escrow balances are not supposed to be part of its assets.
A user should still confirm which bank-promoted trustee holds the escrow and keep screenshots of each payment confirmation.
If a payment link asks you to send money to a personal UPI handle or a mobile wallet instead of the escrow arrangement, stop. That request is inconsistent with the structure the directions require.
Disclosures, fees and complaint handling
Fees must be disclosed upfront and cannot depend on repayment. They may be fixed or a fixed share of principal. Loans must show the annual percentage rate in a prescribed format, and the platform must give an explicit risk declaration including the possibility of losing the entire principal.
Platforms may not promote the product as an investment with assured returns. Complaints must be resolved within one month, and the platform must have its information systems audited at least once every two years.
The Reserve Bank’s Integrated Ombudsman Scheme accepts complaints against NBFCs. A lender who feels a platform failed to follow these disclosure rules can complain there if the platform’s own process fails.
Read the risk declaration. It is not boilerplate: the regime places credit risk on the lender, so a defaulted loan can mean a complete loss of that amount.
The audit rule is a quiet but useful protection. An information systems audit at least every two years is meant to catch weaknesses in the platform’s software, data storage and access controls before they harm users, and a platform can be asked when its last audit was completed.
Examples of registered platforms and how to verify them
LenDenClub shows an NBFC-P2P badge on its website, with a minimum lending amount of Rs 10,000 and a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. Ask the platform for its certificate number and check it in the Reserve Bank’s records. In May 2018 Faircent was described as the first platform to receive an NBFC-P2P certificate.
Names that have been listed as NBFC-P2P platforms include LenDenClub, Faircent, Lendbox, IndiaP2P, RupeeCircle, i2iFunding, Finzy, Cashkumar and i-Lend. The number of registered entities changes, so check the Reserve Bank’s own list for the current position.
To verify a platform, use the Reserve Bank’s page of registered NBFCs and asset reconstruction companies, which offers downloadable files and a separate list of cancelled certificates. The Sachet portal lets you check whether an entity is registered with the regulator and file a complaint about an unauthorised scheme.
The rules do not address interest-free or Sharia-based lending, so ask any platform in writing whether it offers such products.
Practical steps before lending or borrowing on a platform
Treat a P2P loan as a risk investment, not a deposit. The rules prohibit promoting it with assured returns precisely because lenders can lose money. Spread any amount over many borrowers, within the Rs 50,000 limit per borrower.
- Confirm the Certificate of Registration and the company name on it.
- Read the annual percentage rate and every fee before agreeing.
- Check that payments go to an escrow account, never to a person.
- Note the maturity, which cannot exceed 36 months.
- Keep records of every repayment and message.
Borrowers should remember that a platform cannot take collateral or guarantee the loan, because only clean loans are allowed. Since fees must be disclosed upfront and cannot depend on repayment, ask for the full fee statement and the annual percentage rate before accepting any offer, and compare them with what a bank or NBFC would charge for the same sum and period.