Cashfree Payments provides a full-stack digital lending solution for NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies) and Fintechs. The platform enables businesses to create escrow accounts and operate through APIs for loan disbursements, repayments, and co-lending, in compliance with RBI's digital lending guidelines.
The solution is built on three core principles:
Cashfree Payments is recognized as India's 1st Fintech platform to enable disbursal of loans and insurance claim settlements, serving:
The platform enables NBFCs and their partner LSPs (Lending Service Providers) to scale their digital lending business across multiple use cases:
Cashfree Payments provides NBFCs with a comprehensive escrow management solution:
LSPs benefit from centralized management capabilities:
Cashfree Payments enables instant loan disbursals directly from current or escrow accounts through APIs.
Connect multiple existing current or escrow accounts and switch between them for payout.
Create flexible virtual accounts and use APIs on NBFC escrow account to enable co-lending use cases.
Switch between connected bank accounts. Avoid any unforeseen exigencies of bank downtimes with multi-bank support.
Get dedicated support to set up multiple party escrows or trustee escrows for disbursal.
The powerful merchant dashboard enables businesses to disburse loans and make other payments directly from connected business accounts:
Cashfree Payments helped Northern Arc provide instant consumer & business loan disbursals and effective loan solutions by integrating direct Payouts in their Loan Origination System, eSthenos.
Cashfree Payments enables NBFCs to effortlessly collect payments while adhering to RBI's digital lending guidelines through four key capabilities:
Receive loan repayment directly into your NBFC account with instant reconciliation & same day settlement.
Set up recurring mandates for repayment. Collect recurring payments via:
Split repayment received and settle into co-lenders' accounts directly. Recommended for co-lending use cases.
Leverage repayment reports and statements data for accounting compliance.
Onboard borrowers with ease using the 360° Verification Suite. The platform provides an easy onboarding experience for individuals and businesses by verifying:
Verification is available through both APIs and dashboard.
| Feature | With Cashfree Payments | With Other Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Time to go live | Easy to integrate and go-live in 3 weeks | Difficult to integrate. Delayed onboarding |
| Product Suite for different payment needs | One-stop solution. Low code APIs & dashboard access for easy loan disbursement & collections | Fragmented and siloed products. Multiple vendor integrations required |
| Ease of service | Dedicated support in escrow creation | Multiple points of contact |
| Dashboard | Connect multiple escrow/current accounts with single dashboard | Multiple dashboards, and limited view |
Real time risk management with powerful risk engine. Have better control on funds movement, take action, and minimize risk with real-time updates through:
Yes
With the digitisation of lending, collaborations between entities are common. For instance, regulated entities (REs) like banks or NBFC may partner with:
These LSPs and DLAs do not provide capital nor carry credit risks. This may lead to unregistered lending and anonymised shadow lending.
Can't use pass-through accounts for fund flow: Disbursals and collections will flow straight from the RE's bank account to the borrower's bank account.
BNPL models disbursing to PPI discontinued: BNPL Models that disbursed funds through PPI (prepaid cards, m-wallets) are discontinued. Funds should be disbursed directly to the bank account of the borrower.
Direct disbursals to merchants allowed for specific cases: These use cases include invoice discounting, supply chain financing, consumer durable financing, and even BNPL.
Exceptions for co-lending models: Pool accounts can be still used for for the flow of funds between multiple co-lending REs.
First Loss Default Guarantee (FLDG) use under examination: First Loss Default Guarantee (FLDG) models allow LSPs to offer a first loss guarantee up to a certain percentage of the loan, allowing it to bear some of the risk. Until further notice, arrangements need to adhere to securitisation norms.
Cashfree Payments' tailored solution enables NBFCs to open and operate Escrow accounts with partner banks and trustees, with a dashboard and API stack for loan disbursements directly to borrowers, efficient reconciliation, borrower identity & bank account verification.
This solution will facilitate both Digital lending and Co-lending use cases and will enable both lenders and LSPs to comply with the recent guidelines on digital lending with minimal changes to their existing workflow.
Cashfree Payments also enables lenders to provide seamless repayment options such as e-NACH, UPI AutoPay and identity verification products like Bank Account, GSTIN, PAN, Aadhar verification, thereby giving a full-stack solution for NBFCs and their LSPs.
An escrow account in India is a bank account with conditions on ownership of funds. In simple terms, it is a safe house for assets while the transaction process is still ongoing.
An escrow agent is a mediator who holds this escrow account. Consider them an intermediary between the buyer and the seller. Interestingly, an escrow account is not just limited to funds. It can be used for different types of assets like money, stocks, funds etc.
You may need an escrow account in case of:
Example Use Case:
Let's say you are a construction builder and aim to sell apartments. Now, let's assume that you aim to get these apartments booked by customers before they are ready to move in. Naturally, there are transaction risks:
Here's where an escrow account in India steps in. It reduces the risk of fraud as it acts as the third party between the two parties. Moreover, it helps control the cash flow between the two parties.
For Co-lending Use Cases:
Since September 2022, escrow accounts have become indispensable for co-lending use cases. According to the digital lending guidelines by RBI, all loan repayment and disbursement must be done directly between the bank account of lender and borrower. This means that no third party pass-through account can be used by banks, NBFCs or lending service providers (LSPs).
However, co-lending use cases are an exception to this rule. In other terms, co-lending players (like banks and NBFCs) can use escrow accounts to pool funds before disbursing to borrowers.
For Co-lending Players:
If you are a co-lending player (NBFC or fintech), you can directly integrate with full stack digital lending service providers, like Cashfree Payments.
This will allow you to integrate and go-live within 3 weeks.
Moreover, Cashfree Payments' low code APIs & dashboard access can help you in easy loan disbursement & collections as well, in compliance with RBI's digital lending guidelines.
Cashfree Payments enables 1 Million+ growing businesses in India and across the globe to collect payments, make payouts, manage international payments, and more. Cashfree Payments is backed by SBI, Y Combinator, Krafton, and Apis partners and was incubated by PayPal.
RBI Authorised Payment Aggregator License Certificate of Authorisation No. 266/2025
RBI Authorised Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) Provider Certificate of Authorisation No. 209/2024