MELI
MercadoLibre, Inc.
Is MELI Halal?
Methodology-dependent: e-commerce is permissible, but Mercado Pago and Mercado Crédito create material lending and receivables exposure.
What You Should Know
MercadoLibre's March 2026 filing reports a marketplace alongside Mercado Pago payments, Mercado Crédito consumer and merchant lending, installments and other fintech products. Debt/assets and liquidity/assets pass the examined FTSE and Malaysia total-assets ratios, while the conservative receivables-plus-cash ratio fails the MSCI total-assets ratio. The filing does not provide a universal prohibited-revenue numerator, so the qualitative riba analysis remains essential.
⚠️ Concerns
- •Mercado Crédito earns interest and commissions on consumer and merchant loans
- •Mercado Pago includes BNPL, credit-card, installment, asset-management and insurtech products
- •Receivables plus cash were 48.83% of total assets under the conservative look-through input
- •Interest-related gains were 49 million against 8,845 million of quarterly net revenue, while embedded fintech income is not fully separable
- •Customer funds, collections, data use and financial-inclusion impacts require continuing review
Current quantitative Sharia screen
Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-13.
9,927 / 46,934
7,151 / 46,934
22,916 / 46,934
49 / 8,845
- Financial
- Pass
- Overall
- Incomplete
Debt/assets is 21.15%, identifiable liquidity/assets is 15.24%, receivables plus cash/assets is 48.83%, and disclosed interest-related income is 0.55%; the known FTSE financial ratios pass, but the mixed fintech business screen remains incomplete.
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt/assets and liquidity/assets pass the examined total-assets limits, but conservatively defined receivables plus cash are 48.83%, above the 33.33% MSCI total-assets ratio; the fintech business also remains mixed.
- Financial
- Pass
- Overall
- Incomplete
Debt/assets and identifiable liquidity/assets are below 33%; this is a calculation against the SAC ratios, not an official SAC classification, and the mixed lending and commerce revenue screen is incomplete.
- Financial
- Not calculated
- Overall
- Not calculated
A properly licensed and reproducible 24- or 36-month issuer market-cap history is not stored; a spot market-cap estimate is not substituted.
Business-activity disclosure
MercadoLibre combines a generally permissible e-commerce marketplace with Mercado Pago payments, Mercado Crédito consumer and merchant lending, installment products, and other fintech services. The lending and credit businesses are material and directly relevant to riba analysis, but the filing does not provide a single Sharia-classified revenue numerator.
Limitation: The filing reports commerce, financial-services, credit, and fintech revenue categories, but it does not classify every fee, installment, credit-card, loan, investment, or merchant transaction as permissible or prohibited. No unsupported prohibited-revenue percentage is invented.
Purification
The filing identifies 49 million of interest-related gains, but MercadoLibre's financial-services revenue and product contracts are mixed. ZakatInvest does not prescribe a fixed scholar-approved purification percentage or treat purification as a way to cure a failed business screen.
Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
- Amounts are USD millions from MercadoLibre's March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q.
- Debt includes current and non-current loans payable and other financial liabilities of 5,316 and 4,611.
- Cash uses reported cash and cash equivalents of 3,677 and excludes restricted cash held for regulatory and securitization purposes.
- Interest-bearing securities conservatively include identified U.S. and foreign government debt securities, corporate debt securities, and foreign debt securities held to maturity; equity securities are excluded.
- Receivables conservatively include accounts receivable, credit-card and other payment receivables, and current and non-current loans receivable.
- Revenue is net revenues and financial income of 8,845. The filing separately identifies 39 of government-security interest in Mercado Pago revenue and 10 of interest income and other financial gains; the business-revenue numerator remains unavailable because financial-services and commerce categories overlap.
This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.
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