A bunch of technology platform has joined the lending space off lately in the country. Last month, we reported that mobile wallet company Mobikwik is working on the launch of a lending product that will offer instant credit to customers directly from its app.  Fintech giant Paytm is too trying to enter the lending space and is seeking a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to become a peer-to-peer lending platform. Other than these two, Tala will compete with players like NeoGrowth, Paytm-backed CreditMate, CASHe, LendingKart, MoneyTap, EasySalry, Faircent, LoanMeet amongst others.RBI guidelines on P2P lending: Note that, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had come out with final guidelines in October 2017 for peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, according to which P2P lending companies will be regulated as non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and will come under the purview of the RBI. According to the guidelines, the P2P platforms will act as only as an online intermediary and not raise deposits. These platforms will only act as a facilitator between different parties, and cannot provide any credit enhancement or credit guarantee. The RBI also directs that these companies cannot cross-sell other any product except for loan specific insurance products, and are not permitted international flow of funds. Also, the P2P lending platforms are supposed to undertake due diligence on the participants including credit assessment and risk profiling of the borrowers and disclose the same to their prospective lenders. They will also have to take prior and explicit consent of participants to access their credit information. The guidelines add that, the platforms will have to provide assistance in disbursement and repayments of loan amount and render services for recovery of loans originated on the platform.