Shruti Aggarwal (Stashfin) on Building a ₹2000 Cr Profitable Lending Business

Founder Thesis

"You have to be good at collections if you want to be a good lender."

This was just one of Shruti Aggarwal's amazing insights in this episode: lending profitability relies on responsible repayment, not just customer acquisition. Shruti Aggarwal is the Co-Founder of Stashfin, a digital lending platform in India. She has built a profitable fintech with a loan book of ₹2000 crores and monthly disbursements of ₹300-400 crores. Stashfin operates with remarkable efficiency, generating ₹800 crores in revenue with only 170 employees. Shruti is a CA, holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and has experience at Merrill Lynch.

Key Insights from the Conversation:

✅Underserved Market: Stashfin focuses on the Indian middle class, often underserved by traditional banks, with small-ticket, unsecured personal loans.

✅RBI Regulations: The evolving regulatory landscape has impacted growth and capital requirements but ultimately promotes a more sustainable lending environment.

✅Technological Efficiency: Stashfin leverages technology for extreme operational efficiency, automating processes to minimize costs.

✅Customer Retention: 90% repeat business demonstrates the success of Stashfin's customer-centric approach and product convenience.

✅Leverage Control: Understanding and managing leverage is crucial for NBFCs, and recent RBI guidelines aim to limit risk.

Chapters:

0:00:00 - Introduction: Shruti Aggarwal's Entrepreneurial Journey

0:05:51 - Returning to India & Identifying the Credit Gap

0:11:18 - Choosing the NBFC Model: Control and Responsibility

0:17:01 - Stashfin's Profitability and Unit Economics

0:23:43 - Impact of RBI's PPI Guidelines on Credit Line Cards

0:28:58 - Overview of RBI's Fintech Regulations (2016-2024)

0:41:17 - The Chinese Loan Apps Issue and Regulatory Response

0:48:36 - The Importance of Leverage in Lending

0:53:54 - Stashfin's Funding Strategy: Diverse Sources

01:15:04 - Technology-Driven Efficiency at Stashfin

01:27:20 - Stashfin's Underwriting and Fraud Prevention

01:33:36 - Future Opportunities in Indian Fintech

#FintechIndia #DigitalLending #NBFC #RBI #PersonalLoans #IndianEconomy #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #FinancialLiteracy #LendingRegulations