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Borrower safety · RBI digital lending directory
Since July 2025 the Reserve Bank of India has published a public directory of digital lending apps used by the banks and NBFCs it regulates. Here is how to search it in five minutes, how to read an entry, and why a listing is where your checks begin, not where they end.
A loan app is usually not the lender. Behind most apps sits a regulated entity (RE), such as a bank or an NBFC registered with the RBI, whose money you actually borrow. Many apps are also run by a lending service provider (LSP), a technology or marketing company that sources and services loans for one or more lenders.
To make that link checkable, the RBI’s Digital Lending Directions, 2025, issued on 8 May 2025, require every regulated lender to report each digital lending app (DLA) it uses, including apps owned by its LSPs, on the RBI’s Centralised Information Management System (CIMS). A senior compliance officer of the lender has to certify that data.
The RBI then publishes what lenders report. The first list went up on the RBI website in July 2025, and it updates as lenders add or remove apps. In the RBI’s own words, it exists for the limited purpose of helping customers verify an app’s claim that it is associated with a regulated entity.
Dates from the RBI press release of 8 May 2025 and press coverage in July 2025.
The directory gives you a public link between an app and a lender the RBI supervises, and almost every protection in the digital lending rules attaches to that lender. If an app is tied to an RE, you have a Key Fact Statement, a grievance officer, and the RBI Ombudsman behind you. If it isn’t, you may have nowhere to complain except the police.
Before you sign up, note three things: the exact app name, the developer or publisher name shown on the Play Store or App Store, and the name of the bank or NBFC the app says is lending. “Powered by our partners” without a name is not enough.
Go to rbi.org.in, type the address yourself rather than tapping a link in an SMS or ad, and look for Citizen’s Corner on the home page. The link is titled “DLA’s deployed by Regulated Entities”. It opens a report hosted on the RBI’s data portal (data.rbi.org.in).
Use your browser’s find function (Ctrl+F on a computer, “Find in page” on a phone) to search for the app name. Search a short part of the name, since spellings vary, then search the lender’s name too.
Check that the row links the app to the same lender the app named, that the “link to DLA” points to the same store listing or website you are about to use, and that the owner column makes sense (the lender itself, or a named LSP).
When an offer appears, the Key Fact Statement (KFS) must name the lender. If the KFS names a different company from the one in the RBI entry, stop and ask why before you accept.
Want a faster, searchable view? FundsTiger, our sister company, maintains an RBI-approved loan app list built from the RBI directory, which you can search by app or lender. For anything important, confirm the final answer on rbi.org.in itself, because only the RBI’s page is the official record.
Each row connects three parties, which tells you whom to hold responsible if something goes wrong.
Column names as they appear in the RBI report in October 2026: Entity Name, Website of RE, Entity Type, Name of the DLA, Name of the owner of DLA (self-owned or LSP name), Available on, Link to DLA, and the Grievance Redressal Officer’s name, email and telephone number. The RBI may change the layout.
| Column in the RBI report | What it tells you | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Entity Name, Entity Type, Website of RE | The bank or NBFC whose money you borrow | Same name as on the app and the KFS |
| Name of the DLA | The app or platform the lender has reported | Exact spelling, not a look-alike |
| Owner of the DLA | “Self-owned” by the lender, or run by a named LSP | The app’s developer should be this company |
| Available on, Link to DLA | Website or app store, with a link | The link matches the app you are installing |
| Grievance Redressal Officer | Name, email and phone for complaints | Save these before you borrow |
One app can appear several times if it works with several lenders. That is normal for marketplaces, and the same lender can appear once for each app it uses.
The RBI publishes the list on an “as is” basis from what lenders submit, without further validation. Its directions say plainly that being on the list does not mean the RBI has registered, authorised or endorsed the app, and lenders must not present it that way.
A regulated bank or NBFC has told the RBI that this app is one it uses, and named the company that runs it and a grievance officer. The regulated-lender rules apply to loans from that lender through that app.
That the loan is cheap or right for you, that the app behaves well, that the RBI has checked or “approved” it, or that every lender shown in the app is regulated. “RBI-approved app” is shorthand; the accurate phrase is “an app reported to the RBI by a regulated lender”.
The directory answers “who is behind this app?” It doesn’t answer “should I borrow from it?”
Being regulated sets a floor, not a ceiling. Walk away, or at least slow down, if a listed app does any of these:
For the pattern behind outright scam apps, read our guide to “Chinese” loan app scams. For what short-tenure app loans really cost, even legal ones, see payday loans in India.
These apply when you borrow from a regulated lender, directly or through an LSP’s app, as summarised from the RBI’s Digital Lending Directions, 2025, and its KFS rules.
| Your right | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Key Fact Statement before you sign | A standard KFS showing the annual percentage rate (APR), all fees and charges, the repayment schedule and the cooling-off period. A fee not in the KFS cannot be charged. |
| Direct money flows | The loan is paid into your own bank account, and you repay directly to the lender’s account, not through an LSP’s pass-through or pool account. |
| Cooling-off period | You can exit the loan within the cooling-off period by repaying the principal and the proportionate APR, without a prepayment penalty. Each lender’s board sets the period, at least one day. A reasonable one-time processing fee may be kept if the KFS disclosed it. |
| Limited phone access | No access to your files, media, contacts, call logs or telephony functions. One-time camera, microphone or location access for KYC only, with your explicit consent. |
| Named lender and offers | The app must disclose the regulated lender. If an LSP works with several lenders, it must show all matching offers side by side. |
| No automatic limit increases | Your credit limit can only be raised on your explicit request. |
| Grievance officer, then the Ombudsman | Lenders and LSPs must display a grievance officer’s contact details. If your complaint is rejected, you are unhappy with the reply, or you hear nothing within 30 days, you can complain to the RBI Integrated Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in. |
General information, not legal advice. The RBI can amend or consolidate its directions; your KFS and loan agreement set out the terms that apply to your loan.
| App reported by a regulated lender | Unregistered app | |
|---|---|---|
| Who lends | A named bank or NBFC the RBI supervises | Unknown, or a borrowed name |
| In the RBI directory | Yes, with lender, owner and grievance officer | No, or a look-alike name only |
| Costs disclosed | KFS with APR before you accept | Deductions discovered after the money lands |
| Money flows | Your account to the lender’s account | Personal UPI IDs and changing accounts |
| Phone data | KYC-only, one-time, with consent | Contacts, gallery and SMS copied |
| Changing your mind | Cooling-off exit without penalty | None |
| If it goes wrong | Grievance officer, then RBI Ombudsman | Police, 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in |
If you can’t find the app: search again with a shorter part of the name and with the lender’s name, since apps sometimes appear under a slightly different label. If it still isn’t there, don’t borrow, and don’t share KYC documents or grant permissions. Uninstall it. You can also ask the claimed lender’s customer care whether the app is theirs.
If you already borrowed and are being harassed:
If you feel unsafe, contact the police immediately. This is general information, not legal advice.
Our guide on avoiding fraud when applying through an instant loan app covers the warning signs in more detail.
If the last box is the hard one, listen to it. A loan you can only repay with another loan starts a cycle, however reputable the app.
Omozing SmartSwitch combines short-term app loans into one loan from an RBI-registered NBFC, paid into your own account, with one EMI that actually ends. Or, if you need fresh credit, see our salaried personal loans from a credit score of 600, with every cost in the Key Fact Statement before you sign.
Omozing is the digital lending brand of Aparampaar Finance Private Limited, an RBI-registered non-deposit-taking NBFC. Our registration details and disclosures are on our regulatory links page. We never ask for a fee before approval.
On the RBI website. Go to rbi.org.in, open Citizen’s Corner on the home page and click “DLA’s deployed by Regulated Entities”. It opens a report on the RBI’s data portal listing each app with the bank or NBFC that reported it.
Not in the sense of approval. The RBI publishes apps that regulated lenders have reported to it, as submitted and without its own validation. Being on the list shows the app is linked to a regulated lender; it is not RBI registration, authorisation or endorsement of the app.
The regulated lenders themselves. Under the RBI’s Digital Lending Directions, 2025, every bank and NBFC must report each digital lending app it uses, including those run by its lending service providers, on the RBI’s CIMS portal, certified by its compliance officer. The public list updates as lenders add or remove apps.
Not necessarily, but you should treat it as unsafe to borrow from. Search again by part of the name and by the lender’s name. If you still can’t find it, don’t share documents or grant permissions, and ask the claimed lender directly whether the app is theirs.
The lender, or regulated entity, is the bank or NBFC whose money you borrow and which is responsible for the loan. A lending service provider is a company that runs the app or services loans for that lender under contract. The RBI directory shows both.
No. The RBI’s digital lending rules bar apps from accessing files, media, contact lists, call logs and telephony functions. One-time access to the camera, microphone or location is allowed only for KYC, with your explicit consent.
Yes, within the cooling-off period shown in your Key Fact Statement. You repay the principal and the proportionate APR without a prepayment penalty. The lender may keep a reasonable one-time processing fee if the KFS disclosed it.
For a regulated lender, contact the grievance officer listed in the app and the RBI directory, then the RBI Integrated Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in if needed. For harassment or fraud, call 1930 or report at cybercrime.gov.in. Unauthorised lenders can be reported on the RBI’s Sachet portal.
Sources: RBI press release “RBI issues Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025” (8 May 2025); Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025; the RBI’s “DLA’s deployed by Regulated Entities” report as viewed in October 2026.
Omozing is the digital lending brand of Aparampaar Finance Private Limited, an RBI-registered non-deposit-taking NBFC. FundsTiger is our sister company. See our regulatory disclosures and grievance redressal process.