How to check if a loan app is RBI approved
Five checks, about five minutes, all free. Do them before you install, not after the money arrives.
By Aniket Sanduja · 5 minute read · Updated 28 September 2026
The one thing to understand: RBI does not approve apps. It licenses lenders: banks and NBFCs (non-banking financial companies). A loan app is legal only when a licensed lender is the one actually giving you the money. So every check below is really one question: who is the lender, and does RBI know them?
Check 1: Find the lender's name inside the app listing
Open the app's Play Store page and scroll to About this app and the developer details. Google requires personal-loan apps in India to name the bank or NBFC they lend for. Also look at the app's own website for a page called "Our lending partners", "NBFC partner" or "Digital lending".
If you cannot find a lender's name anywhere, stop here. That alone is enough to walk away.
Check 2: Look up that lender with RBI
On rbi.org.in, RBI publishes the list of registered NBFCs (search the site for "NBFC list" or "list of NBFCs registered with RBI"). Banks are listed under scheduled commercial banks. Search for the exact company name you found in check 1.
- The name must match exactly, including "Private Limited" or "Limited". Fraud apps borrow names that are one word away from a real NBFC.
- Note the registration number. A real lender will quote the same number on its website and loan documents.
- If the company's certificate has been cancelled, RBI publishes that too. A cancelled NBFC cannot lend.
Check 3: Find the app in RBI's Digital Lending Apps directory
Since July 2025, RBI has published a directory of Digital Lending Apps (DLAs). Every bank and NBFC must report the apps it lends through, and RBI lists them against the lender's name. Search rbi.org.in for "Digital Lending Apps" to open it.
This check catches the most common trick: a fake app that claims a real NBFC as its partner. If the NBFC is real but the app is not in its list, the app is not authorised to lend on its behalf. The lender's own website must also list every app and lending partner it works with, and you can cross-check there.
Check 4: Read what the app asks for
RBI's digital lending rules forbid regulated apps from taking blanket access to your phone. Be suspicious if an app asks for:
- Contacts, photos, media files or call logs. A lender needs your identity and bank details, not your phone book. Contacts access is how harassment starts.
- An upfront "processing" or "verification" fee paid by UPI before the loan. Legitimate fees are deducted from the loan and shown in the Key Fact Statement, never collected in advance.
- An APK download link sent by SMS or WhatsApp instead of the Play Store or App Store.
Check 5: Ask for the Key Fact Statement
Before you accept, a regulated app must show a Key Fact Statement (KFS): the loan amount, every fee, the total you will repay, and the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), which counts fees and interest together. The money must be paid into your bank account directly from the lender's account, and you get a cooling-off period to cancel by returning the principal and proportionate interest.
No KFS, or an APR only shown after you accept, means the app is not following RBI's rules, whatever it says on its home screen.
Still not sure? Paste the message that brought you to the app into our SMS scam checker, or run through the eight red flags on the home page. If two or more are true, delete it.
Already installed an app that fails these checks?
Revoke its permissions (Settings → Apps → the app → Permissions), uninstall it, and change your UPI PIN and banking passwords if it had SMS access. Report the app on RBI's Sachet portal (sachet.rbi.org.in). If it has started threatening you, follow the step-by-step harassment guide.
Questions people ask
Does RBI approve loan apps?
Not directly. RBI licenses banks and NBFCs. An app is legal only if a regulated bank or NBFC is the actual lender, and since 2025 regulated lenders must report their apps to RBI, which publishes them in a Digital Lending Apps directory.
The app says it is 'registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs'. Is that enough?
No. Any company can register with MCA. Lending to the public needs an RBI licence as a bank or NBFC (or a state money-lending licence for local lenders). An MCA number alone proves nothing about lending.
The app is on the Google Play Store. Doesn't that make it safe?
It helps but is not proof. Google requires Indian loan apps to declare their lender, and removes many fraud apps, but new ones appear every week. Use the Play Store listing to find the lender's name, then check that name with RBI.
What if the app is legal but the interest is still huge?
Legal is not the same as cheap. A regulated app must show you the annual percentage rate (APR) in a Key Fact Statement before you accept. Read it. If the APR is above 36%, a gold loan, an employer advance or a bank loan will almost always cost less.