Last May, Sachin Bansal-led Navi saw its best laid plans upended when the Reserve Bank of India—India’s central bank—rejected its application for a commercial banking licence. Without this licence, Navi’s ambition of providing a tech-first, mass market banking solution was effectively a non-starter.

Flipkart co-founder Bansal, however, has refused to allow this setback to bog Navi down. The firm is scaling up its loan book aggressively. Unlike in previous years, though, when its growth was driven by massive marketing and management costs, Navi is now laser focused on creating a profitable business.

While the MFI business continues to be profitable, the personal loan business turned loss-making in the year ended March 2022, owing to large expenses incurred for marketing and promotional activities.