In a country like India where credit card penetration is among the lowest in the world, fintech startup novio is offering 90% of its customers a credit card within a day, novio Founder and CEO Aditya Gupta said.  

“India does not even come among the top 100 countries as far as credit card penetration is concerned. Less than 5% Indians hold a credit card compared to 30-40% in developing markets and 60-70% in developed markets,” Gupta said. 

He goes on to say that over 30 banks in India have a license to issue credit cards, but all of them have continued to focus on the easiest segment from a credit point of view. “They target salaried employees working in large corporates, those having a good credit score, and more importantly, those already having a credit card. Mostly existing customers who have credit cards are the ones who are getting new credit cards.” 

novio is targeting the 45 crore Indians who do UPI transactions every day but do not have a credit card. It offers credit cards against fixed deposit, with the convenience of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments. UPI accounted for 85% of total payment volumes in India's digital payments ecosystem in H1 of CY25, according to data from the Payment System Report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

Opening a credit card through novio is simple. A customer opens a small Fixed Deposit through the novio app with its co-brand partner banks to get a premium RuPay-branded credit card – no income proof, no credit history, no eligibility checks. The credit card can be instantly linked to UPI, enabling ease of payments while the underlying deposit continues earning up to 7% annual interest. To give a seamless experience to its consumers, novio works with multiple banking partners such as IOB Bank, SBM Bank and DCB Bank.

The novio app offers UPI functionality (TPAP-licensed by NPCI) with a full stack of offerings such as 10% rewards, airport lounge access, discounted travel bookings, free movie tickets, and real-time rewards redemption on leading consumer brands. 

“We have kept an FD amount as low as ₹2,000, and you can keep as high as five lakh rupees. Basically, you can decide your own credit limit. 90% of the FD amount is given as credit limit of the credit card. It's a five-minute, very seamless digital journey, and 90% of our customers get a credit card within a day,” Gupta said. 

Recently, novio’s parent company Credilio Financial Technologies Pvt Ltd raised ₹100 crore in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Cornerstone Ventures, with participation from Shepherd’s Hill Private Equity, ESV-Arthya AIF and Roots Ventures, alongside venture debt from Innoven Capital and Alteria Capital. 

The startup aims to utilise the funds across core priorities including scaling distribution deeper into tier 2–5 markets and accelerating product development – with focus on expanding bank partnerships and further leveraging the novio UPI stack and AI credit advisory features. 

novio's core customer base includes shopkeepers, freelancers, gig workers, early jobbers, and employees of small and medium enterprises — segments Gupta terms “credit invisible” because banks routinely deny them regular credit cards. The company has distributed over one lakh secured credit cards so far, with 65% of customers coming from tier-3 cities and beyond. The median customer age is 27, with salaries ranging from ₹15,000 to ₹50,000 a month.

novio is targeting 50 lakh cards in three years, up from one lakh, a 50x jump from current levels. Gupta pointed to the company’s existing role as a distributor of proprietary bank credit cards, a channel that brings 8-10 lakh prospective customers to the platform each month, 95% of whom are rejected by banks.