Indian Women Founders Share 2025 Reflections & Outlook for 2026

By: WE Staff

Sarika Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, RentenPe

For Sarika, 2025 brought key lessons about adaptability and resilience.

Key Learnings in 2025

My biggest learning in 2025 was that compliance is not a constraint; it’s a moat.

When the RBI banned credit card rent payments through third-party apps in September, it tested the resilience of the entire ecosystem. For us at RentenPe, staying deeply compliant with regulations ensured continuity and helped us emerge stronger, and even become the only platform still offering credit card rent payments.

Building in a regulated space demands patience, precision, and conviction. Shortcuts may deliver speed, but only trust sustains scale. This year reinforced my belief that long-term value is created by respecting regulation, earning stakeholder confidence, and staying committed to building responsibly.

Sarika’s 2026 Vision is to Scale with Substance

By 2026, my vision is to make rent count for those millions of renters who are still outside the credit ambit. I want to make verified rental behaviour a mainstream credit signal in India. Over the next year, my focus is on scaling with substance: building compliant rent rails, earning trust across landlords and tenants, and simultaneously working closely with banks, credit bureaus, housing societies, and insurers to institutionalise rental data. The goal, for me, is simple. But it is ambitious. The idea is to unlock fair, timely access to credit for millions of credit-worthy renters who diligently pay rent on time, despite which they are still excluded from the credit ecosystem, and help shape a more inclusive, behaviour-led financial ecosystem.  

About Sarika Shetty: She is a seasoned social entrepreneur with over 20 years of leadership in the luxury automobile sector, and now leads the rent payment platform, RentenPe. Her vision is transforming urban renting through digital innovation, transparency, and empowerment, driven by a mission to simplify rental experiences and build trust across the ecosystem.