Airtel Money gets $2.2bn injection as it takes on Jio Financial

• A $2.2bn investment by Bharti Airtel and Bharti Enterprises aims to improve financial inclusion
• New entity is not a mobile banking provider but will make loans to individuals and small businesses, putting it in direct competition with Jio Financial Services
• Airtel Money, a “high-performance credit engine”, aims to narrow the credit gap, as millions of Indians are still without a traditional bank account

Following a $2.2bn cash injection from Bharti Airtel and its parent Bharti Enterprises, and with a licence already secured, Airtel Money is ready to challenge Jio Financial in India’s large and growing digital lending sector. 

Incorporated as recently as July 2025, Airtel Money last week informed investors it had been granted a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence by the Reserve Bank of India (RFI) that enables it to enter the sub-continent’s burgeoning lending market. 

Now, just days later, Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest mobile operator, has announced the new unit is to receive a 200bn rupees ($2.2bn) investment to “expand digital lending” facilities over “the next few years”.

The move is part of Bharti Airtel’s diversification beyond telecom as it moves into cloud technologies, datacentres and digital services, and comes as competition in India’s “non-bank lending sector” is increasing. Bharti Airtel will contribute 70% of the investment, while Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises will stump up the 30% balance. An Airtel press release explains that the massive new investment “will leverage the large Airtel customer base to build the next growth engine for the company and further diversify its portfolio”, whilst “narrowing the credit gap and improving financial inclusion in India.” 

It will also worry Jio Financial Services, which is related to but not part of Reliance Jio. 

India’s non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) sector exists alongside and runs in parallel with traditional banks. They are a vital part of the national economy, offering a wide range of financial products and services. However, as their designation makes evident, NBFCs do not have a general banking licence and are restricted to offering a limited range of financial services to individuals and businesses: Airtel Money is not a mobile banking provider, nor is it allowed to take deposits from customers, but it claims to have built “a high‑performance credit engine” over the past two years.

Instead, Airtel Money and other NBFCs play a pivotal role in promoting financial inclusion by providing financial services, such as credit (loans), insurance and investment opportunities, to those that can experience difficulties in obtaining traditional banking services. 

Commenting on the announcement, Gopal Vittal, the executive vice chair of Bharti Airtel, stated: “The past two years [are] 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. 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. Airtel aims to rapidly expand access to simple, secure and innovative digital financial services across India, deepening financial inclusion and empowering underserved consumers.”

Potential for making loans to largely untapped sector about to get competitive

According to Indian financial news site Mint, any NBFC can leverage about five times its capital, which would allow Airtel Money to build a loan book of 1tn rupees ($11bn) based on the investments being made by Bharti Airtel and Bharti Enterprises.

And Airtel has plenty of customers to pitch to: It ended 2025 with 463.4 million mobile customers across India, according to the latest statistics from the national regulator. The market leader, though, is Reliance Jio, which ended 2025 with 489 million mobile customers.     

By forming and investing in Airtel Money, Bharti Airtel, which also runs Airtel Payments Bank, is in direct competition with Jio Financial Services, which operates Jio Payments Bank and non-bank finance outfit, Jio Credit: It was spun out of Reliance Industries Ltd (Reliance Jio’s parent) in 2023, but is still primarily controlled by RIL’s chairman and managing director Mukesh AMbani and his family. 

Now cut-throat competition is assured between Airtel Money and Jio Credit as they fight it out over products, including credit cards, working capital loans and personal loans. 

Interestingly, and possibly significantly, Airtel, as required by the RBI, has filed this disclaimer statement, “The Company has a valid Certificate of Registration dated 13/02/2026 issued by Reserve Bank of India under section 45 IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. However, [it notes] the Reserve Bank of India does not accept any responsibility or guarantee about the present position as to the financial soundness of the company or for the correctness of any of the statements or representations made or opinions expressed by the company and for the repayment of deposits/discharge of liabilities by the company.” In other words, if things go wrong, Airtel Money will be on its own. There won’t be any support from national institutions.

As financial instruments, NBFCs can be immensely helpful for borrowers in need of quick funding and have several in-built advantages over traditional banking. For example, the majority of NBFC eligibility criteria for loans are relaxed in comparison to established, traditional banks, and individuals and small companies can usually be accommodated and money advanced to them more quickly than via the hugely bureaucratic traditional Indian banking system. What’s more, NBFCs usually offer flexible repayment options based on borrower needs and, by their nature and raison d'être, are very supportive of self-employed individuals and small businesses.

But there is a downside: NBFCs typically charge higher interest rates than traditional banks and the overall cost of a loan can mount up because of an array of additional fees and charges. What’s more the length of NBFC loans are shorter and more hedged with caveats, while regulatory protection is limited in comparison to the legal obligations placed on traditional banks.

As usual, it’s a matter of horses for courses. It is an established fact that NBFC’s do contribute greatly to India’s continuing economic growth but also have to walk a fiscal tightrope and maintain a balance between strong cash and credit reserves and ensuring their ongoing financial stability whilst simultaneously safeguarding the interests of their customers. 

– Martyn Warwick, Editor in Chief, TelecomTV