CRED is sharpening its focus on building a trust-led wealth platform even as it expands its presence across financial services, with CEO Kunal Shah cautioning that honesty in investing may not always be commercially rewarding. “Truth may not necessarily make money in wealth,” Shah said, underlining the company’s approach to prioritising transparency over short-term monetisation.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Shah said CRED’s wealth strategy is anchored in giving users a clear and honest picture of their financial performance, even if that may not always be appealing. “A mirror that lies to you will be used more often, but a mirror that tells you the truth will be trusted in the long run,” he noted.
The company has been scaling its wealth offering through Kuvera, focusing on features that emphasise transparency and liquidity. Shah said one of the key tools provides a “mirror view” of portfolio performance, while another product, Surplus, allows users to park idle funds in liquid instruments with the flexibility to withdraw up to ₹4 lakh within hours. The strategy is aimed at affluent users who seek both returns and easy access to funds.
CRED’s push into wealth comes alongside a broader expansion across regulated financial services. The Reserve Bank of India has recently granted the company a payment aggregator licence, enabling it to onboard merchants and manage transactions directly under regulatory supervision. The approval adds to a suite of licences across payments, insurance and investment advisory, reinforcing its positioning as a full-stack fintech platform.
Shah, however, maintained that the company’s core remains firmly consumer-focused, with merchant integrations designed to enhance user experience rather than drive a separate revenue stream. He reiterated that financial services—including payments, lending, insurance and wealth distribution—will continue to contribute the bulk of revenues over time.
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CRED processed payments worth over ₹8.5 lakh crore in FY2024-25 across roughly 1.5 crore users, and accounts for more than a third of credit card bill payments in India. As it deepens engagement across these users, Shah said the long-term opportunity lies in building trust and expanding average revenue per user, even if that means deferring profitability in the near term.
In wealth, he emphasised that the company’s philosophy will remain consistent. “We have always had a philosophy: don’t build a product that we would not happily give to our friends or family,” he said, adding that maintaining that discipline is key to building enduring customer trust in financial services.
