India, July 2 -- Pune-based two-wheeler finance startup Bike Bazaar has stopped lending, halting all new disbursements beginning December 2025 owed to a sharp deterioration for its loan book. Credit ratings agency ICRA downgraded Bike Bazaar to BBB status earlier this month, marking it as a high risk borrower.

The reason: More than a third of its portfolio is now either not paying or has already been sold off as distressed debt. As per an ICRA report, the startup is in talks with a "strategic investor" to revive its business, but given the current market, a revival seems a long way away.

Notably, the deterioration has also begun spilling over into the securitisation process where Bike Bazaar-originated loans are pooled together and trad...