Six years after the country’s shadow-banking sector blew up, pockets of stress are building again, prompting firms to start pulling back amid scrutiny from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Bajaj Finance, India’s largest non-banking financial company (NBFC), joined rivals including Shriram Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, and IIFL Finance that posted higher delinquencies on unsecured loans in their second quarter earnings reports. Most firms also set aside more capital for provisions and had lower profits than expected. The “Goldilocks” moment for lenders riding the wave of demand for loans from retail customers while maintaining clean balance sheets may have clouded. These firms are grappling with an increase in bad loans, margin compression and intense competition for deposits, according to bankers and analysts.