How many NBFCs are there in India, and how many of them lend?

The number usually quoted counts the register, not the lenders

A single round figure for "NBFCs in India" treats an account aggregator, a peer to peer platform and a ₹40,000 crore housing financier as one population. They are not one population, and RBI does not regulate them as one. The register carries the two columns that separate them, licence classification and regulatory layer, and almost nobody crosstabs them. So here is the crosstab.

Every NBFC on the register, by classification and layer

Codes and category labels are RBI's own. The layer is the scale-based regulation layer the register assigns each entity.

ICC* is RBI's own marking for an investment and credit company holding an additional certificate of registration to carry on factoring. Asset reconstruction companies sit on a separate sheet of the same file and are not NBFCs for this count.

Download the crosstab as CSV. Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Lokta, India NBFC register, classification by regulatory layer, as on 30 June 2026, compiled from RBI's register of NBFCs.

How the count was made

1. Start with the register. RBI's List of NBFCs and ARCs registered with the RBI, as on 30 June 2026. 8,561 rows on the NBFC sheet. The ARC sheet is a different register and is excluded throughout.
2. Separate the categories that lend. Setting aside Type I NBFCs (131), core investment companies (60), peer to peer platforms (28), account aggregators (17), standalone primary dealers (7), holding companies (2) and the mortgage guarantee company (1) leaves 8,315. None of those seven categories puts money out as credit on its own book.
3. Take the base layer. 7,918 entries sit in the base layer, of which 179 are in the non-lending categories above. That leaves7,739 lenders in the base layer. The five non-lending categories that appear in the base layer appear nowhere else, and the two that appear above it appear nowhere in the base layer, so the split is exact rather than approximate.
4. Work out who is above it, and why. The middle and upper layers hold 643. RBI places 169 of them above the base layer by licence category whatever their size: housing finance (91), core investment (60), infrastructure finance (8), primary dealers (7) and infrastructure debt funds (3). That leaves 474. Sixteen of those hold a certificate to accept public deposits, which lifts an NBFC out of the base layer at any size. Removing them leaves 458 placed above the base layer on their balance sheet rather than their licence.
5. Check it closes. 7,739 plus 458 plus 118is 8,315. The 118 is 102 lenders placed above the base layer by category (housing finance, infrastructure finance, infrastructure debt funds) and the 16 deposit-taking investment and credit companies.

What this count does not tell you

• It is not an asset ranking. The register carries no asset figures. Layer is used here as RBI's own proxy for scale, and the 458 is a count of layer placements, not a measured ₹1,000 crore threshold crossing.
• The upper layer is not purely size. RBI selects the upper layer by a scoring methodology applied to the largest NBFCs, so "by size" is precise for the middle layer and directionally right, not literal, for the 11 lenders in the upper layer.
• There is no split at ₹100 crore. RBI publishes no asset band below ₹1,000 crore, so nobody, including us, can tell you from this file how many NBFCs run a book under ₹100 crore.
• Registered is not the same as trading. The register includes entities that are dormant or close to it. A count of licences is an upper bound on a count of active lenders.
• It ages. RBI republishes monthly. Use the vintage on this page or recount from the source; do not carry this figure forward.

Why we counted it

We build software for the loan book after approval, and we wanted to know how many lenders are carrying a base-layer budget against obligations that do not scale down. The answer is7,739. That number is why Lokta Next 100 exists.

Questions

How many NBFCs are registered with the RBI?

8,561, as on 30 June 2026. That is the count of RBI's public register of NBFCs, which is a separate list from the register of asset reconstruction companies published in the same file.

How many NBFCs actually lend?

8,315. The other 246 hold a licence in a category that does not put money out as credit: core investment companies, peer to peer platforms, account aggregators, standalone primary dealers, Type I NBFCs, holding companies and the mortgage guarantee company.

How many NBFCs are in RBI's base layer?

7,739 lending NBFCs sit in the base layer, out of 7,918 base-layer entries in total. Under the scale-based regulation framework the base layer is where a non-deposit-taking NBFC stays until its assets reach ₹1,000 crore, unless its licence category places it higher.

Is the number of NBFCs in India growing or shrinking?

This page is a single vintage, not a trend. RBI republishes the register monthly and both cancellations and fresh registrations move the total, so a count taken on another date will differ. Recount from the source rather than ageing this figure.