Rent, don’t buy: India’s young and the restless are rewriting the rules of ownership, from sofas to refrigerators

In a country where ownership of things has long been equated with success—be it a car, a home, or even a sofa—the idea of renting durable goods could seem like a niche choice. But it is clearly not a fringe phenomenon, especially for urban renters in their 20s and 30s, who are increasingly seeing rentals as a smart lifestyle decision.

“Today, the cost of furnishing an apartment is nearly ₹2 lakh, you can access the same for ₹7,000 a month with Rentomojo, including annual maintenance and free relocation. For anyone in a rented flat, that’s a compelling proposition,” says Geetansh Bamania, founder and CEO of Rentomojo. 

Rentomojo’s internal data indicates that over a three-year horizon, the rental model proves more economical than outright purchase. Beyond cost, rentals offer flexibility—a key consideration for India’s urban mobile population. The company offers relocation, repairs, and maintenance bundled in, removing what Bamania calls the ‘sunk costs’ of ownership.

From a single-city operation, Rentomojo now services 22 cities and manages 6.5 lakh units of furniture and appliances. The company counts 2 lakh active subscribers, with 45-50% of them returning monthly. Offline retail is also working well, with store-level revenue in some cases doubling that of online.

What also sets the company apart is that it’s not burning cash to grow. Last year, it generated ₹80 crore in cash from operations, with a PAT of ₹40 crore and EBITDA of ₹100 crore. “Even on the public listed space, it’s a rarity to find a ₹100 crores EBITDA which is growing by 20 to 25% ROCE,” he points out. “We’re not just chasing growth; we’re focussing on both.”

So why, most players that entered the furniture and appliance rental space during the last decade, have since folded or failed to scale?

“It’s a difficult business,” Bamania admits. “This is not e-commerce. It’s not just logistics. It’s also warehousing, refurbishing, balance sheet management, and tech,” Bamania says. Rentomojo operates one of India’s largest refurbishing units, with 1,600 carpenters, tailors, and technicians extending the asset lifecycle to 8–10 years. "We spend a couple of million dollars every year just on refurbishing units,” he adds. Many startups either come in with either a logistics mindset or a lending background but couldn’t integrate the full stack of what the business demands.

“Most don’t raise debt capital, don’t manage accruals, and can’t scale,” he says about local players.

Urbanisation as tailwind

Though metros dominate demand—especially cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR—Rentomojo is seeing triple-digit growth rates from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Surprisingly, even in metros like Bengaluru, awareness of rental models is not universal. As per the company’s surveys, awareness of furniture and appliance rental options is under 50%. In Jaipur or Mysuru, it’s even lower. This lack of awareness could also mean the potential for growth is far from exhausted.

And despite spending ₹20 crore on marketing last year—roughly 10–15% of its ₹250 crore revenue—Rentomojo still relies heavily on word-of-mouth and referrals. “That’s the best way to grow a business that’s operationally intensive,” he says.

But as global capability centres and IT firms expand beyond the top metros to manage rising real estate costs, Rentomojo plans to follow the demand curve. “India has about 40 urban cities with over a million people. China has 120. If we want to be a $7-8 trillion economy, our urbanisation must spread,” Bamania says. He expects that migration and economic growth in these cities will drive up demand for flexible lifestyle solutions like furniture and appliance rentals.

Of the $40 billion furniture and appliances market in India, Rentomojo now commands over 50% of the organised rental space, as per its FY24 figures. Bamania sees rentals as the next natural evolution in how consumers access products, much like EMIs once transformed the purchase landscape a decade ago, calling them ‘the last real innovation’ in the purchase ecosystem.

“Today, rental is becoming that next innovation and I’m not competing with purchasing. If it’s more economical over a three-four-year period and comes with free repairs, relocation, and no liability, then why not rent instead of own?” he says.