32 million customers in 3 years: Jio Financial to accelerate to 100 million target in one year

Jio Financial Services (JFS), the NBFC controlled by the Ambani family, aims to become one of the leading players in every segment in which it operates across its three major verticals—Borrow, Invest and Protect, said Hitesh Sethia, managing director & CEO, JFS. The immediate objective is to reach a user base of 100 million across its digital properties in the next one year, from the present 32 million.

Being part of the larger Reliance ecosystem brings structural advantages to Jio Financial Services (JFS), the CEO told Fortune India. A strong brand, access to deep capital, technological expertise and proximity to an expansive ecosystem of customers are natural advantages for the NBFC, which started operations three years ago. "Combined with disciplined execution, robust governance and sound risk management, we are uniquely positioned to build for the long term and create impact at scale," said Sethia.

Providing access to financial services that are easy to understand and personalised to each individual is JFS's objective. "We are building across four core financial needs—Borrow, Invest, Transact and Protect, with the ambition of supporting customers through different stages of their lives," he said.

The expansion of JFS follows a two-pronged approach, anchored in a phygital model in which the firm deploys the channel mix best suited to each purpose. "To support this growth, our ground footprint already spans 26 Jio Credit Limited offices in 19 cities; we serve over 32 million unique users across our digital properties, and leverage an expanding network of over 633,000 Business Correspondent (BC) touchpoints for our payments bank operations," he added.

Building product capabilities by combining deep distribution reach and an understanding of local markets with the expertise of global financial institutions that have joined as strategic partners is the firm's strategy, he said. This includes alliances with BlackRock for investments, Allianz for insurance, and Bank of America for lending. Alongside its payments and banking businesses, these capabilities allow JFS to serve a broad range of customer needs, he said.

The JioFinance app has evolved into a neural agentic marketplace that brings together JFS products and offerings from other trusted financial services providers, he added. "When it comes to the app and deepening customer relationships, neutrality of the platform is paramount—we will only and always recommend what works best for the customer, even if it is not our product, keeping our advisory truly transparent," he said.

Within a short span of three years, the diverse businesses have scaled up meaningfully and demonstrated robust operating traction, Sethia said. In lending, Jio Credit’s Gross AUM reached ₹37,320 crore as of Q2 FY27, demonstrating rapid execution across consumer, merchant and corporate credit segments. Jio BlackRock Asset Management has seen its closing AUM rapidly scale to ₹22,746 crore in a little over one year.

The objective for JFS at present is to reach a user base of 100 million across its digital properties in the next one year. "We intend to build towards this by expanding relevant offerings, strengthening digital and assisted distribution, and bringing together our own products and those of trusted partners. All of this will come together on an intelligent platform that leverages data analytics, AI and Machine Learning to offer more personalized guidance and simpler customer journeys, helping deepen relationships with customers across borrowing, investing, transacting and protection," said Sethia.

In lending, the Bank of America transaction would give Jio Credit an equity base of around ₹25,000 crore. Applying an indicative industry leverage assumption, this provides a potential AUM runway of around ₹1–1.50 lakh crore, said Sethia. The pace of growth will depend on customer demand, funding, underwriting standards and the company's assessment of risk, he added.

One of JFS's greatest strengths is its strong capital base, which has ensured that the company remains profitable from the beginning, owing to the treasury income earned on this capital base, even as it continues to invest for growth across nascent-stage and growth-stage ventures, said the CEO. This capital also gives the company significant undeployed firepower to invest in newer, capital-intensive businesses such as general insurance and life insurance, he added.

Interest income from liquid assets and dividends from its 6.1% holding in RIL have contributed to its strong financial position. The promoter family is infusing ₹15,825 crore into JFS.

As incomes rise in the country and more households and businesses enter the formal financial system, there is considerable room to serve both existing needs and new financial aspirations, said Sethia.

India’s total household debt stands at ₹156.6 lakh crore, representing around 45.5% of GDP, compared with an average of 55% in September 2025 across other emerging market economies, including Thailand, Malaysia, China, Chile, Brazil and South Africa. Mutual fund AUM of ₹73.7 lakh crore represents around 21% of GDP in FY26, against a global average of 74% in 2025. Similarly, total insurance premiums of ₹13.3 lakh crore translate into penetration of 3.8% in FY26, compared with global penetration of 7.2% in 2025. These gaps indicate significant room for growth across financial services, he added.