InCred Financial Services Limited

InCred is a non-deposit-taking systemically important NBFC with an unusual corporate history. The entity was incorporated in January 1991 as Visu Leasing and Finance, acquired by InCred in 2016, and then combined with KKR's Indian lending business: the board approved the merger in September 2021 and the NCLT sanctioned it in May 2022, after which KKR India Financial Services was renamed InCred Financial Services Limited. It lends across retail, education, and SME segments, including secured and unsecured business loans to small businesses, supply chain finance, and escrow-backed lending through its SME vertical.

The KKR lineage matters practically: this is an NBFC carrying institutional credit discipline from a global alternative asset manager rather than a purely branch-led lending culture. Its SME vertical, and specifically its escrow-backed and supply chain products, are the relevant doors for a CGSS conversation. Approach the SME or business lending team directly rather than through a retail channel.

Its role in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups. InCred Financial Services Limited is one of 40 institutions registered with the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company as a CGSS Member Institution (NCGTC MLI ID 114, classified as a RBI-registered NBFC). Member Institutions are the lenders that actually extend credit under the scheme: you borrow from InCred Financial Services Limited, and NCGTC guarantees it against your default. That guarantee is what allows credit to be extended to a DPIIT-recognised startup without collateral, with cover of up to Rs 20 crore per borrower, being 85 percent of the amount in default on loans up to Rs 10 crore and 75 percent above that.

The terms are the lender's, not the scheme's. CGSS fixes the guarantee, not the loan. The interest rate, tenure, moratorium, repayment schedule and how the Annual Guarantee Fee is passed on to you are all set by InCred Financial Services Limited under its own credit policy, and they differ materially between Member Institutions for an identical borrower. Registration does not oblige InCred Financial Services Limited to lend: it appraises you on its normal credit standards first and applies the guarantee second. Approaching more than one Member Institution is almost always worth the effort.