CRED has improved the credit scores of nearly 15 million customers: CEO Kunal Shah

The company’s potential customer is a person with a good credit score and who has a credit card, Shah said. Currently, CRED has a market share of 35-37 percent and it is eyeing the 50-55 percent mark.

Shah pointed to the opportunities in the agriculture sector. “There are opportunities to create new business in the rural markets which are showing promise with the rise of digital infrastructure,” Shah said.

He also spoke about the future of credit. “Lots of UPI acquiring companies are giving loans to merchants who were historically not accessible (for loans),” he said. “Our focus was on people who are credit-worthy, give them superior experience but (now with) most people becoming credit-worthy through different mediums – with account aggregators, UPI data, GST data — there is going to be so much opportunity in the merchant space, SME space where a new set of affluent class is getting created,”

However, the decline in female labour force participation will be one of the “nagging factors” standing in India’s quest for improved per capita income in a $10-trillion-aspiring economy, according to CRED founder.

CRED, which launched its UPI in April 2023, has climbed to number four among UPI companies, even with a very small customer base. “We do not have the philosophy to be first at whatever we do, but to do it right. Do something that people will appreciate (for) the quality behind the effort and build for a cohort that is more discerning,” said Shah, sharing CRED’s philosophy of striving for its customers’ trust.