The Bengaluru startup is combining multilingual voice bots, compliance monitoring and outsourced operations to automate a traditionally manual part of lending.
When a borrower misses a repayment, the real work for a lender begins after the reminder goes out. In India, that process has long depended on manual judgement, call centres and outsourced agents. Bengaluru-based DPDzero is trying to replace much of that machinery with software, voice automation and managed operations, positioning itself as a full-stack collections platform rather than a simple tech vendor.
Founded in 2022 by Ranjith BR and Ananth Shroff, DPDzero works with banks, non-banking financial companies and fintechs to sort borrowers into cohorts, decide which channel to use and determine when a case should be escalated. According to the company, it now engages about 2 million borrowers a month, up from 1.8 million in August 2025, when it raised $7 million in Series A funding. It has also received follow-on backing from SMBC Asia Rising Fund.
The business grew out of the founders’ time at Setu, the fintech infrastructure firm later acquired by Pine Labs. Shroff worked on products and partnerships, including work with the National Payments Corporation of India on the Bharat Bill Payment System, while Ranjith led engineering after seven years at data analytics firm Mammoth. During the pandemic, when field visits were restricted and lenders urgently needed digital repayment infrastructure, Ranjith saw an opening. The pair first considered selling collections software, but after spending time with lenders they concluded that outsourcing was too central to the market for software alone to be enough, so they shifted to collections as a service.
That pivot shaped both the product and the economics. DPDzero says it takes over portfolios and studies them for two to three months before building borrower models based on language, geography and payment history. A borrower with a strong record may get a text message, while a repeat defaulter may be routed to a voice bot or a human agent. The company describes the model as outcome-led, meaning it is paid for recoveries rather than for activity, which shifts operational risk onto DPDzero but also ties its incentives closely to lender results.
Artificial intelligence is most visible in its voice layer. Tara, the company’s multilingual voice agent, is designed to handle a collections conversation from start to finish, including objections, intent recognition and promise-to-pay commitments, before handing over to a human if needed. DPDzero says the system was built using a mix of open-source models and India-resident models, avoiding other third-party AI systems. Hindi is its strongest language, but it also supports Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati and Marathi. Ranjith has acknowledged that dialects remain a challenge, although he says the system can match human performance in some tier-one and tier-two markets.
Compliance is a critical part of the pitch. India’s central bank has tightened rules around recovery conduct, including restrictions on intimidation and contact outside permitted hours, and in August 2026 it issued a consolidated framework for commercial banks that adds further safeguards, including prior notice before in-person visits. DPDzero says it bakes these requirements into its systems. Its monitoring tool, Roger, acts as an AI compliance officer by watching calls, messages and workflows for possible breaches of regulatory or lender-approved rules, then flagging issues and suggesting action. The company also uses APIs to give lenders visibility into collection activity.
The market DPDzero is pursuing is crowded and expanding. The company counts ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, L&T Finance and Moneyview among its customers, while competitors include Credgenics and Spocto, alongside newer voice AI entrants and traditional collections agencies. IMARC Group estimates India’s debt collection software market will grow from $220 million in 2026 to $484 million by 2034, supported by digital adoption, automation and compliance needs. DPDzero says it has nearly 1,000 employees, most of them in operations, and has raised about $10.75 million in total funding to build out a field collections network that began in Bengaluru and later expanded to Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. The company has not disclosed revenue.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
