Inside RentenPe’s Push To Make Rent a Credible Credit Indicator

For years, India’s rental market has functioned in a fragmented, largely informal manner, with cash-heavy transactions, inconsistent agreements, and limited digital trails. This has left millions of young professionals, migrants, and gig workers outside the formal credit ecosystem. RentenPe, founded in September 2024, is attempting to bridge this gap with a rent-linked credit scoring model that converts routine rental payments into verifiable financial records.

The platform, now active in major metros including Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, provides tenants and landlords with a digital workflow for ID verification, rent transfers, rental agreements, and short-term credit access through NBFC partnerships. With over 7,000 app downloads, 3,514 tenants, 1,015 landlords, and more than ₹2 crore in rent transfers completed, RentenPe is testing the viability of rent as a trusted alternative data source in India’s evolving credit landscape.

In a conversation with CiOL, Sarika Shetty, co-founder and CEO of RentenPe, discussed how rent-based credit scoring could redefine credit access for thin-file customers, the operational challenges in digitising India’s rental market, the impact of the DPDP Act on fintech innovation, and the broader implications for landlord-tenant relationships. She also highlighted how verified rental trails—supported by KYC, timestamped logs, and fraud detection, can strengthen trust and influence lending decisions by NBFCs and emerging alternative credit players. Excerpts

How do you see rent-based credit scoring reshaping the way India’s financial ecosystem defines creditworthiness, especially for young earners and urban migrants who have limited traditional credit histories?

Rent-based credit scoring is all set to bring about a revolution in the largely unorganised residential rental market. For those who are not within the credit ambit, especially young earners, entry-level jobbers, gig workers and urban migrants with nil to minimum traditional credit history, it provides an opportunity to enter the credit ambit. Acting as an alternate credit scoring system, it tracks and rewards consistent and timely rent payments, turning a recurring monthly expense into a credit parameter. A rent-based credit score provides an additional layer of credibility to the individual, providing better access to credit and even home loans. Apps like RentenPe have already developed a Rent Credit Score, which is built through timely and consistent rent payments through the app. A strong rent credit score provides access to better rental deals, short-term low-interest loans and also pre-approved home loans.

Rental payments are often informal and unrecorded. What systemic challenges does India face in making rent data reliable enough for financial inclusion, and how does RentenPe ensure data integrity and trust across landlords and tenants?

India’s rental market is largely informal, with factors such as cash payments, inconsistent agreements, and low landlord digitisation making rent data fragmented and difficult to verify. The absence of a national rental registry, lack of standardised contracts, and high risk of fabricated payment trails further weaken data reliability for financial inclusion.

RentenPe builds trust in the system by validating rent payment through rent agreement verification, KYC checks for both parties, and timestamped payment logs. Cross-verification of tenant–landlord details, secure document workflows, and fraud-detection models help create an auditable, credible rent-payment trail.

What role do NBFCs and mainstream lenders play in validating rent-based credit data? Are these signals beginning to influence underwriting models or lending decisions in a measurable way?

NBFCs and some mainstream lenders use rent-payment patterns as alternative data to assess affordability and creditworthiness, especially for thin-file customers. While adoption is still emerging, consistent rent history is beginning to influence risk scoring and approvals, provided the data is verified and stable over several months.

With the rollout of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), how should rent-based fintechs like RentenPe navigate privacy, consent, and data portability while balancing innovation and user trust?

Rentenpe obtains clear user consent, limits data collection to essential information, provides portability and withdrawal options, and maintains strong security practices. Balancing innovation with compliance requires transparent data use, tenant-first consent flows, and privacy-by-design systems that avoid over-collection.

Could rent-linked credit scoring change landlord-tenant relationships, for instance, by influencing rental pricing, deposits, or tenant selection? How might regulators or industry players ensure this system remains equitable?

Rent-linked credit scoring benefits reliable tenants through lower deposits and better rental terms. It also enables landlords to check who is a high-scoring tenant. Fairness can be maintained by creating clear usage guidelines, portable scoring standards, and protections against score-based exclusion.

As you scale beyond major metros, what are the biggest operational and infrastructure gaps in India’s rental ecosystem that could slow adoption, and what kind of policy or ecosystem support is needed to make rent-based financial inclusion mainstream?

Adoption slows outside major cities due to low digital literacy, cash-based rent practices, weak property verification, and inconsistent access to digital agreements. To expand rent-based financial inclusion, India needs standardised digital lease systems, state-level policy support, wider landlord onboarding, and public awareness about the credit value of verified rent payments.