Rajiv Naresh, MD & CEO, Navi
Navi is sharpening its focus on product depth and institutional scale, MD & CEO Rajiv Naresh told businessline, outlining a forward roadmap across payments, lending and asset management.
“The second inflection point of our journey is UPI,” Naresh said, pointing to the rise of Navi UPI as a structural growth lever. The app has scaled to a 3.2 per cent market share by transaction volume and 1.3 per cent by value within two years, emerging as the fourth-largest player in the ecosystem.
“One could have argued that there’s no space for a fourth player to emerge and take almost 4 per cent market share in 18 months,” he said. “But consumers tell us that they feel our experience is faster and more seamless.”
Naresh added that the next phase will centre on embedding credit into the payments stack. “In my mind, there will be no more efficient engine to deliver credit to the masses than credit on UPI,” he said, underscoring the company’s belief in converging payments and lending rails.
Lending and AMC: Quality, precision and scale
“Lending is our core,” Naresh said, noting that the company has recalibrated its loan book towards lower-risk assets. The mix is now roughly 80 per cent unsecured and 20 per cent secured, with secured assets expected to grow further in absolute terms.
“The quality of our book is in a constant upward trajectory,” he said, signalling tighter underwriting and stronger governance frameworks amid a more stringent regulatory environment.
On asset management, Naresh said Navi Mutual Fund will build on its passive-first foundation while broadening its product suite.
“When it comes to Navi AMC, we’ve spent a lot of time mastering the precision of index investing, obsessing over every basis point to provide a reliable, low-cost gateway for Indian investors,” he said.
Looking ahead, the ambition is clear: “Over the next three years, we aim to be amongst the fastest growing AMCs led by product innovation, digital expansion in B30 cities and a commitment to giving retail investors the same sophisticated tools once reserved for institutions.”
Together, the strategy signals a pivot from rapid expansion to disciplined scale — with credit-on-UPI, secured lending and retail-focused investing forming the pillars of Navi’s next growth cycle.
Published on February 18, 2026
