RBI regulations create roadblocks for peer-to-peer lending companies

The RBI mandates that an investor can lend up to Rs 1 million across all P2P lending platforms

Is non-bank lending a form of access to credit for those in need or an investment asset class for the well-to-do? That is the question that India’s central bank perhaps grappled with while framing the regulations for the nascent peer-to-peer (P2P) lending companies. 

While the regulations were put up only in November last year, a handful of companies have exited business and many others have changed tack after looking at the guidelines.

The guidelines, which require a company to adhere to them entirely to get a non-bank finance company-P2P licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), place restrictions on