Flipkart Becomes 1st E-Commerce Platform to Get NBFC Licence From RBI

Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart has become the first e-commerce company in India to get a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

The RBI has granted Flipkart a non-deposit-taking NBFC license. This means that it cannot accept deposits from the public. However, Flipkart can now directly lend to customers.

RBI has granted a license to Flipkart Finance Private Limited, a subsidiary of Flipkart.

Amazon has acquired the Bengaluru-based NBFC Axion, but the RBI has yet to approve the acquisition. 

Significance of the NBFC status 

Flipkart applied for an NBFC license in 2022, and according to the company, the RBI granted it the license on 13 March 2025.

Flipkart partnered with Axis Bank, IDFC Bank, and Credit Saison to provide loans to its customers under the Buy Now, Pay Later scheme and small personal or business loans to sellers on its platform.

Now, Flipkart can directly lend money to customers or businesses that sell their products in the e-marketplace.

Flipkart will lend through its app or through its fintech super. Money.

This move is expected to help Flipkart grow its business in India.

About Flipkart 

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, two Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi graduates, launched Flipkart in 2005 as an online bookstore.

Later on, Flipkart expanded its business to sell all kinds of consumer products on its e-marketplace.

It owns the fashion e-tailers, Myntra, and UPI-based payment startup PhonePe.

American retail giant Walmart acquired a 77 % stake in Flipkart in 2018 for $16 billion. 

It was India's largest single cross-border merger and acquisition and the country's largest single foreign direct investment (FDI) at that time.

In 2011, Flipkart shifted its headquarters from Bengaluru to Singapore.

Flipkart is now shifting its headquarters back to India as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) in India.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-  Kalyan Krishnamurthy

Headquarters- Singapore

Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act 1934 mentions Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)

NBFCs are a type of financial institution that provides loans to the public, accepts deposits from them, and offers other financial services like stock broking, hire, leasing, and purchase etc.

The RBI regulates certain types of NBFCs as per the RBI Act 1934. 

RBI has divided NBFCs into deposit-taking and non-deposit-taking.

Deposit-taking NBFCs are those that can accept deposits from the public. Since 1997, the RBI has stopped granting licences to deposit-taking NBFCs.

A non-deposit-taking NBFC cannot accept deposits from the public. Flipkart Finance Private Limited is a non-deposit-taking NBFC.