From Revenue Dip To ₹850 Cr IPO: How Kissht Turned It Around

At a time when some of the prominent new-age firms in India have been recalibrating their decisions of listing in public markets, Kissht chose a different path.

A day before subscriptions for its initial public offering opened, the company had already signalled confidence. On April 29, anchor investors committed ₹277.78 Cr to the IPO, with the company allocating 1,62,44,216 equity shares at ₹171 per share — the top of its price band. 

Ranvir Singh, Kissht’s cofounder and CEO, said that the company’s decision to go ahead with the public listing during a testing time for the global markets was validated with marquee institutional investors backing its bid. 

Of the total, 92.6 Lakh shares, or 57% of the total anchor round, were picked up by seven domestic mutual funds via a total of 13 schemes. The domestic mutual funds that anchored the round included HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential, Whiteoak Capital, and Bandhan Bank, among others. 

“We have also seen encouraging participation from anchor investors, which reflects external validation of the company’s positioning. The timing aligns with our internal milestones rather than short-term market movements,” Singh told Inc42. 

But beyond the optics of timing and investor interest lies a more nuanced story, which also explains Kissht’s financial trajectory in recent years, particularly as it came during a pivotal moment for the digital lending industry.

Kissht’s Profitability Story After Revenue Dip

Any investor looking at Kissht’s headline numbers for FY25 would take a pause. But the real story, according to Singh, played out in FY26. 

Operating revenue fell over 20%, from ₹1,674.5 Cr in FY24 to ₹1,337.5 Cr. Net profit slid 18.6%, from ₹197.3 Cr  to ₹160.6 Cr. For a company heading to an IPO, these are not the right numbers. 

But a large part of this was due to the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of norms for unsecured loans. The central bank raised risk weights on unsecured loans from 100% to 125%, which increased the cost of capital for every digital lender that had built its loan book on consumer loans.

Several digital lending platforms decided to pull back from low-value loans with shorter tenures that were driving the growth. Given that Kissht runs its own NBFC, it also had to reevaluate some digital lending partnerships. 

Singh told us: “We deliberately chose not to disburse more loans, not to increase the volume of the loan book, and not to chase heavy AUM, so as not to lose the profitability track.”

In the nine months of FY26 ending December 31, 2025, Kissht reported a PAT of ₹199.3 Cr on revenue of ₹1,569.9 Cr.

The median credit score (CIBIL) of Kissht’s active borrower base was around 746, demonstrating the quality of active borrowers, Singh said, and 67.65% of its borrower base earned between ₹25,000 and ₹75,000 per month during the tenure of their loan. 

The loan book is very healthy, Singh added. “While we are not providing specific revenue guidance at this stage, our revenue trajectory remains closely linked to AUM growth. AUM increased from ₹2,604 Cr in March 2024 to ₹5,956 Cr in December 2025, which is 2.2x growth.” 

The AUM growth number is the centrepiece of Kissht’s public market pitch.

Lending Shifts Towards Efficiency

The Kissht IPO’s ₹850 Cr fresh issue is explicitly earmarked to fuel the next leg of AUM expansion primarily through the company’s own NBFC balance sheet. 

This should ideally give Kissht more control over underwriting standards, loan pricing, and collections than a pure co-lending or marketplace model would allow. This is a distinct advantage for Kissht. 

Singh believes the second lever is diversification both in customer acquisition and product mix, where the technology investment has played a key role. “Our key differentiation is diversified customer sourcing channels and a scalable technology platform integrated across functions,” he noted.

This means functions such as sourcing through multiple channels, risk management, reducing dependence on any single funnel and improving acquisition efficiency. At the same time, the company is expanding beyond unsecured lending.

One emerging vertical is loans against property (LAP). While it currently contributes about 5% to overall revenue, Singh indicated that this segment is growing significantly. LAP loans, being secured, carry lower risk and longer tenures, adding stability to the loan book.

An adjacent revenue play is health insurance, which the company is offering as a cross-sell product. While not a core lending business, it enhances customer lifetime value and deepens engagement.

Technology remains a central pillar as Kissht further expands its product portfolio. Continued investments in automation, underwriting algorithms, and customer interfaces are expected to reduce operating costs over time.

“With a relatively large and engaged customer base, repeat usage and cross-sell opportunities are likely to remain important drivers of growth,” the founder added. 

As of December 2025, the company had 11.17 Mn registered customers and a loan book with over 2.87 Mn active users. 

The Shifting Regulatory Sands

Kissht’s RHP emphasises a shift towards declining credit costs as NPA levels come down, and increasing contribution from repeat customers in direct lending. Many in the fintech ecosystem believe that a lot of this has come due to the RBI’s focus on eliminating practices that fell in the grey area within digital lending, including a push for NBFCs to review their risk weights. 

It’s not just the story of Kissht, but companies in the lending space, such as KreditBee, have also had to diversify in the past two years. 

Kissht’s strategic shift also comes at a time when India’s digital lending ecosystem is under closer regulatory scrutiny. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that lending or financial services have to constantly watch out for regulatory changes in line with socioeconomic changes. 

The RBI tightening norms would not have surprised many of the larger players, even if the new rules disrupted some digital lending products severely, particularly smaller or loosely governed players.

Singh sees regulation as a necessary evolution rather than a constraint. “There haven’t been total shutdowns in the space. But regulatory clarity has made compliance a do-or-die test and ensured that borrower quality is maintained.”

In fact, he believes companies with stronger governance frameworks and compliance systems may stand to benefit from this shift, as weaker players are forced out or scale down.

India’s Fintech IPO Season

Kissht’s IPO comes at a peculiar time, because companies like PhonePe have delayed their own listing plans. Several other well-funded consumer internet companies have entered what analysts are calling the “watch and assess” phase monitoring market conditions, waiting for FII sentiment to stabilise, and also hedging against the impact of the geopolitical tensions on public markets.

Against this backdrop, Kissht’s decision to proceed can be called bold. But Singh and Kissht CFO Krishnan Vishwanathan buying back shares before the IPO at a premium over the IPO price band does indicate a certain bullishness.

Kissht CEO Singh said the revised IPO structure with the OFS being halved and the fresh issue trimmed by 15% to ₹850 Cr show that this is not just a liquidity event. It’s not a response to markets, but actually about doubling down on the growth levers. 

“Repeat usage and cross-sell opportunities are likely to remain important drivers of growth for us. Plus, continued investments in technology and underwriting are expected to improve operating efficiency and margins over time,” he added.

Besides Kissht and PhonePe, Acko is also lining up an IPO by the first half of next year and has roped in bankers before going for a confidential filing later in 2026. 

Similarly, Razorpay, which is likely to go public next year, has appointed bankers for its potential $600 Mn-$700 Mn listing. Another fintech giant BharatPe is waiting to see how the market evolves in the medium term before deciding on its IPO timelines. 

Kissht does not directly compete with either of these players, but there will be plenty of interest in how the market receives the company.  

The management’s conviction aside, the key question is whether Kissht can sustain the AUM and revenue growth parity while maintaining asset quality and profitability. 

Competition is also growing as Mobikwik recently secured an NBFC licence and will be looking to target its existing massive user base and make a push for new borrowers. There’s also the Jio Financial threat which can never be undermined. 

For Kissht, the ingredients are in place which include a large customer base, diversified product offerings, improving risk metrics, and institutional backing. But execution will be critical, especially in a competitive and evolving market.

Singh also says that the timing is critical for this IPO, but that timing isn’t about the market conditions, it is about Kissht being ready now for this big step. 

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