, Columnist
Tech Is Collecting Loans It Helped Create
India’s booming digital-lending business is stoking demand for a new breed of startups even as the global outlook deteriorates.
Credit bonanza.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
It is becoming something of a post-pandemic mantra in India: A lender whose portfolio of unsecured retail loans is not increasing by 50% annually is simply not trying hard enough.
All kinds of bank and nonbank lenders are heaping credit on household balance sheets even though the consumer economy is fragile: A tiny minority that can afford luxury goods is in great financial shape, but low-income earners, especially outside large cities, are struggling with two-wheeler purchases and smartphone upgrades.