LKP Finance, a publicly traded financial services company, has officially applied to the Reserve Bank of India to surrender its NBFC licence, having stopped financing activities several months ago. The company has acquired a strategic stake in Gyftr (Vouchagram Private Limited), marking a complete transformation from traditional lending toward a platform-driven fintech ecosystem. Kapil Garg, Promoter Managing Director of LKP Finance, clarified that "this is not a shift from financing to gifting. We had already stopped financing at LKP Finance and applied to the regulator to surrender the NBFC licence." The deal structure maintains LKP Finance's 22% stake in Mufin Pay and Mufin Pay's 100% ownership of Gyftr, with a licensing agreement underway to rename the listed entity to Gyftr Limited.
The combined entity demonstrates strong financial performance with Gyftr expecting to cross ₹4,200 crore in transaction value this year, according to recent reports from Fortune India. On profitability, Gyftr generates annual profit of over ₹40-50 crore while LKP Finance contributes another ₹20-30 crore, resulting in consolidated PAT of ₹90-100 crore without any leverage. The company maintains a robust balance sheet with ₹350 crore in cash reserves and zero debt. Gyftr currently operates with over 300 brands and more than 500 enterprise clients, spanning banks, e-commerce firms, oil marketing companies, and large corporates, with physical network across 5 lakh points expanding to over 25 lakh digital acceptance points.
Arvind Prabhakar, CEO of Gyftr, emphasized that the investment validates the company's vision of building digital rewards infrastructure, stating that "gift cards are currency. Once you digitise that currency, it becomes seamless, scalable, and far more efficient." The acquisition provides access to a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) licence, solving a critical regulatory bottleneck. "Without a PPI licence, you can't hold customer funds in escrow. With it, the money stays protected even if a brand shuts down," Prabhakar explained. Kapil Garg noted that the integration "creates a powerful synergy promoting high-frequency digital reward use cases and regulated payment rails," with the combined platform positioned as "a pure cash business" requiring minimal working capital.
The digital rewards market presents significant growth opportunities, currently valued at $35-40 billion and projected to cross $65 billion by 2030, driven by enterprise incentives and changing consumer behavior. According to Fortune India, over 150 million e-gift cards were issued in the last year alone. Gyftr is betting heavily on social commerce as its next growth lever, with Prabhakar noting that "globally, social commerce contributes 30-40% of gifting volumes. In India, this hasn't even started." The company expects social gifting integrations across platforms such as WhatsApp and Meta to roll out over the next three to six months, positioning itself to capitalize on India's incentive-driven market where "the only thing missing earlier was ease."