MobiKwik to return to profitability in second half of FY26, says Co-founder Upasana Taku

Digital financial services platform MobiKwik expects to return to profitability in the second half of FY26, Co-founder and CFO Upasana Taku told CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines of Global Fintech Festival, adding that the company has already begun showing improvement in its earnings performance.

Taku said the company had been profitable for six consecutive quarters before going public, but faced temporary setbacks due to headwinds in the unsecured lending space. “It is just a matter of bad luck or destiny that just as we were getting listed, there were a lot of headwinds in the unsecured lending space—not just for MobiKwik, but overall in the sector,” she said.

She explained that lending partners, including banks and NBFCs, had scaled down disbursals during that period, leading to lower revenues from credit distribution. “We have momentarily gone into the red because of these things,” Taku said, while expressing confidence that the company’s financial recovery is underway.

“In fact, from Q4FY25 to Q1FY26—March to June—we have already shown improvement. We went from about ₹45 crore to about ₹31 crore in terms of negative EBITDA—a ₹15 crore swing,” she said. “If we just keep doing that, then over the course of one or two quarters we should be back to being profitable.”

Taku said the company’s core payments business continues to grow strongly. MobiKwik recorded about three times growth in its payments business last year and continues to see healthy expansion across consumer and merchant segments. At the same time, credit distribution is recovering, with 30-32% growth in disbursals in recent quarters.

The company is also betting on new products and regulatory approvals to expand its portfolio. MobiKwik has secured a payment aggregator licence and a broking licence, which Taku said will drive the next phase of growth. “We are trying to really build MobiKwik as a full house of financial products with a core focus on delivering to the Tier-2, Tier-3 markets—what we call Bharat,” she said.

Among its new launches, the company has rolled out a RuPay credit card on UPI called First Card, which aims to make credit access more inclusive. “Very few Indians have a credit card in India, and we want to bring that product to everyone. Starting from ₹5,000, anybody can get a credit card on the MobiKwik app. That’s why it’s called First Card. It’s your first credit card,” Taku said.

She also highlighted MobiKwik’s growing focus on wealth and personal finance solutions, including Lens.AI, a free AI-powered tool that helps users analyse their financial portfolios. “This is the first step for a person to make educated decisions because not everyone has the time—whether it is you, me or a small business owner—to be looking at screens all day analysing our money movement,” she said.

Taku added that the company’s stockbroking business, once launched, will further complement its existing wealth products such as digital gold, mutual funds and high-yield fixed deposits.

With strong growth in its payments business, new credit products and diversification into wealth management, Taku believes MobiKwik is well-positioned to deliver sustainable profitability in FY26.