The licence was the hard part.The lending technology should not be.
An application-only programme for RBI-registered NBFCs with AUM up to ₹100 crore. Run your live book on the full agentic loan servicing platform, with no platform fee for two years. AI is opt-in, metered, and approved by you before it switches on.
Only 458 of India's 8,315 lending NBFCs are big enough to clear RBI's ₹1,000 crore line.1
A further 7,739 sit in the base layer, still building toward it, and most never arrive. The credit judgment is rarely what is missing. The operating gap opens long before the regulatory one, at around ₹100 crore, and one part of that gap is a machine a small book cannot yet pay for.
See who qualifiesCounted from RBI's register as on 30 June 2026. See the method and the data.
Who qualifies?
This is built for aspirational lenders: the ones growing the book on purpose, who want that growth to show up as return on equity for the investors, employees and shareholders behind it. The move is from finance company to institutional lender, and it is an operating change before it is a capital one.
Four requirements. What you pay to start depends only on whether you bring an existing book.
- An RBI-registered NBFC, in India
- AUM up to ₹100 crore at enrolment
- A fresh licence with no book yet qualifies, and pays nothing to start
- LSPs qualify when they service loan books. Total AUM across every lender on Lokta is what is measured
Not eligible
- Pure-play microfinance NBFCs
Two qualifying lenders enter implementation each month, reviewed in the order received. Once both windows are allocated, the next approved lender moves to the next available month.
Lending outside India? Lokta Next 100 is open to RBI-registered NBFCs today, and we are taking the programme to other markets. Write to contact@lokta.ai and tell us where you lend. Those conversations shape where we go next.
What has to be true before a lender crosses ₹100 crore
Four things. Three of them are yours to build. The fourth is the one you can buy, and it is the one most often deferred.
Institutional debt and diversified funding
Lenders on the other side of the threshold are funded by institutions, not by a promoter and one bank line. Diversifying the liability side is the first thing a lender has to earn, and it is earned with a portfolio somebody else can underwrite.
A clean, seasoned portfolio
A book with vintage, measurable behaviour and a delinquency story that survives a diligence room. Seasoning cannot be bought or accelerated. It can only be recorded properly while it happens, which is where most small books lose the argument.
Named risk and treasury owners, with governance on the record
The question a lender is asked at this threshold is not whether the calls were good. It is whether anyone can see who made them, on what basis, and when. Named owners and a decision trail are what make that question answerable.
Collections and reporting on auditable systems
The operating machine. It is the one item on this list you can buy outright. Everything else has to be earned, and this is the one most often deferred until the book is already straining. This programme takes it off the list while the book is still small.
One platform for the live book
Launch products, service accounts, collect repayments and understand your portfolio, without turning every change into a technology project.
Loan servicing core
Products, accounts, disbursements, schedules and the live repayment record.
Collections and recovery
Buckets, allocation, follow-up and the recovery trail on the same record.
Loan accounting
Loan-level ledger and books, tied to the servicing record rather than reconciled to it.
Reports and analytics
Regulatory and investor reporting, portfolio signals and early warning.
Institutional controls
Maker-checker, roles and a full audit trail, at every AUM. The controls do not arrive with the invoice.
Partner management and APIs
LSP partner management, bureau reporting, and APIs to integrate what the book depends on.
Assemble the same capability yourself and it is a multi-vendor project with a team to run it. The programme prices it at zero while the book is small, because the machinery has to precede the obligation, not follow it.
Your book is never the thing at risk
Three commitments that keep the live book safe while you switch.
We run in parallel.
Your current process keeps running. You cut over only when opening balances reconcile line by line. If the numbers do not tie out, you do not cut over.
The agent cannot touch the ledger.
AI proposes. Your deterministic core decides every change, and the record proves it. AI is opt-in, metered, and you switch it off whenever you want.
We stay hands-on until you are live.
Our team works alongside yours until your first policy version is configured and reconciled in production, and stays on it through cutover.
Terms, in plain English
Three stages, one published price, and the same institutional controls from the first loan onward.
- Eligibility
- RBI-registered NBFCs with AUM up to ₹100 crore at enrolment. Excludes pure-play microfinance NBFCs.
- LSPs
- Total AUM across all lenders on Lokta is measured. Splitting books does not reset the threshold or the fee.
- Free term
- 24 months from go-live while AUM remains at or below ₹100 crore, measured the same way it is billed.
- Capacity
- Two assisted implementation starts per month. No minimums.
- Platform
- Products, accounts, disbursements, schedules, collections and recovery, accounting, reports and analytics.
- Controls
- Maker-checker, roles and audit trail, at every AUM.
- Migration
- ₹1 lakh one-time, plus applicable taxes. A fresh licence with no book pays no setup or migration fee.
- Operations
- Bank integration ₹50,000 flat, plus applicable taxes. Bureau reporting, email and phone support included.
- Billing
- Begins at the earlier of two events: AUM above ₹100 crore for two consecutive months, or the 24 months ending.
- AUM
- Average AUM for the calendar month, computed by the platform from the ledger it already runs. Principal outstanding, including write-offs, your co-lending share, and accounts assigned or securitised but still serviced on Lokta.
- AI
- Opt-in. An estimate before activation, billed on actual usage, and you can switch it off at any time.
- Hosting and data
- Hosted on AWS in India. Your data is yours, exportable, and never used to train models for anyone else.
Pricing at the end of 2 years
Or earlier if the AUM threshold below is crossed.
1 bps per month on AUM
₹1,000 per crore of AUM, per month, plus applicable taxes.
The free period is a runway, not a permanent tier. The published rate begins when your average monthly AUM sits above ₹100 crore for two consecutive months, or when the 24-month term ends, whichever is earlier. One lumpy month does not start the meter.
Getting started is simple
Five steps, and your live book never moves until you are ready.
- 1
You apply
Four questions about the entity and the book. No documents at this stage.
- 2
We qualify
We check registration and the size of the book, in the order applications arrive, and come back within one business day.
- 3
We talk
One working conversation about your products, your policy and what the book does today.
- 4
Contract
Terms as published, in writing. Nothing conditional left to interpretation.
- 5
Onboarding
Opening balances tied out, a parallel run, and cutover only when your numbers match.
Apply for the next window
Four questions, and then we talk. We review applications in the order received and come back within one business day.
Your application is in.
We review applications in the order received and will come back to you within one business day with your eligibility and the next available window. If it is easier to talk first, write to contact@lokta.ai or call+91 77958 37582.
Frequently asked questions
Who qualifies for Lokta Next 100?
RBI-registered NBFCs with AUM up to ₹100 crore at enrolment. Pure-play microfinance NBFCs are excluded. A fresh licence with no book yet qualifies and pays nothing to start. For an LSP, the total AUM serviced across every lender on Lokta is what is measured.
We lend outside India. Can we still apply?
Write to contact@lokta.ai and tell us where you lend. The programme as published is built around RBI registration and a rupee AUM threshold, so these terms apply in India today. We are taking Lokta Next 100 to other markets, and we would rather hear from you before we decide the order.
What does Lokta Next 100 cost?
The platform subscription is ₹0 for 24 months from go-live while AUM stays at or below ₹100 crore. After that, 1 basis point per month on AUM, which is ₹1,000 per crore of AUM per month, plus applicable taxes. AUM is the average for the calendar month, computed by the platform from the ledger it already runs. Migrating an existing book carries a flat one-time fee of ₹1 lakh, and bank integration is ₹50,000 flat, both plus applicable taxes. A fresh licence with no book pays neither. There are no minimums.
If the platform is free, are we the product?
No. The platform fee is zero for two years. You pay for metered AI you approve before it switches on, a flat one-time migration fee of ₹1 lakh if you bring an existing book, and bank integration at ₹50,000, both plus applicable taxes. After the free years, 1 basis point per month on AUM. That is the whole model. Your book is hosted on AWS in India, your data is yours, exportable, and never used to train models for anyone else.
Will a free platform carry regulatory weight?
Maker-checker, roles and the audit trail are in the programme, not behind an upgrade. The controls apply from the first loan and at every AUM.
What happens when our AUM crosses ₹100 crore?
Billing begins once your average monthly AUM sits above ₹100 crore for two consecutive months, so a single lumpy month does not start the meter. From then it is the published rate of 1 basis point per month on AUM, and it does not stop if the book later dips below ₹100 crore. Nothing else changes: crossing is graduation, not a repricing, and there is no renewal quote.
How does the migration work?
Opening balances are tied out, we run in parallel against your current system or process, your numbers are matched, and you cut over only then. Until cutover your current process keeps running.
Why only two lenders a month?
Every go-live is assisted by our team rather than handed over, and two is what we can do properly in a month. Applications are reviewed in the order received. Once both windows are allocated, the next approved lender moves to the next available month.
- Counted from RBI's List of NBFCs and ARCs registered with the RBI, as on 30 June 2026. The register lists 8,561 NBFCs, of which 8,315 lend once core investment companies, P2P platforms, account aggregators, standalone primary dealers, Type-I NBFC-NDs, NOFHCs and the mortgage guarantee company are set aside. The 458 counts lending companies RBI places in the middle or upper layer on size alone, excluding those it places there by category whatever their size, and the 16 deposit-taking companies among them. The 8,315 splits three ways: 7,739 lending NBFCs in the base layer, 458 above it on size alone, and 118 placed above it by category or because they take deposits, a group that includes housing finance and infrastructure finance companies well above ₹1,000 crore. RBI publishes no asset split at ₹100 crore, so no count is offered at that level. The registered population includes entities that are dormant or near-dormant. The full classification-by-layer crosstab, the reproduction method, the stated limits of the count and the figures as a CSV are published separately:how many NBFCs are there in India.↩
We built the rails the industry runs on: Apache Fineract, the open-source lending core behind loans to more than 65 million borrowers across 70 countries. Apache, Apache Fineract and Fineract are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation. Lokta is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Apache Software Foundation or the Mifos Initiative. Eligibility and deployment scope are subject to Lokta's written agreement.