InCred, KKR India Financial Services complete merger, hope to become a ‘leading’ NBFC

• The two businesses will now operate under InCred Finance’s brand names.
• The duo believes that the merger would create a “leading” NBFC.
• KKR India Financial Services is a subsidiary of Reliance Jio’s investor KKR.

InCred Financial Services and KKR India Financial Services (KIFS), on Tuesday, announced that they have completed the merger of their lending businesses.

A deal to merge the non-bank lending business of these two entities was announced in August last year. The two businesses have been engaged in extended talks for over a year before sealing the deal.

The merged business will now operate under the name of InCred Finance, with a balance sheet of $600 million and an equity base of $300 million.

“The strategic partnership with KKR significantly accelerates our ability to deliver our class leading offerings at a large scale and to capitalize on the enormous credit opportunity in India,” said Bhupinder Singh, founder and CEO of InCred Group.

Singh, who founded InCred in 2016 to provide tech-enabled loans to MSMEs, consumers and even education loans – will also lead the new merged entity.

The duo believe that the merger would create a leading Indian non-banking finance company (NBFC).

“This merger combines the strengths of InCred Finance and KIFS to create a market-leading lending platform with the enhanced resources and expertise to meet the diverse funding needs of Indian customers. KKR is pleased to remain involved with the business as a strategic partner,” Gaurav Trehan, partner and CEO of KKR India, added.

KKR India Financial Services is a subsidiary of global investment firm KKR, which is an investor in Reliance’s Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail, Max Healthcare, LivSpace, JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals and more. The lending subsidiary is focused on wholesale or corporate loans.

InCred Finance was founded by Singh in 2016. It offers loans to customers, businesses and students through both online and offline mediums. The company claims that its loan book is already touching $500 million in a span of seven years.

InCred has raised close to $300 million to date. It counts INVESTCORP, OAKS, Moore Capital, Elevar Equity, Paragon Partners, Cantor Fitzgerald’s Anshu Jain, Manipal Education and Medical Group’s Ranjan Pai, and Dalmia Group Holdings’ Gaurav Dalmia as investors.

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