Fintech

Digital wallets get a makeover for UPI credit

Pratik Bhakta

October 11, 2021 | 9 Min Read

The banking regulator wants credit payments on UPI to be routed through prepaid payment instruments, but teething issues related to bank charges and interchange rates are causing delays in the rollout

Prepaid payment instruments, or digital wallets, are making a quiet comeback to India’s payments ecosystem. The same Unified Payments Interface system that contributed to sidelining digital wallets by making direct debit from bank accounts easy and fashionable is looking at PPIs to enable credit transactions on its rails.

Fintech platforms such as Bullet, Freo and LazyPay were forced to stop offering credit on UPI rails earlier this year because the regulations didn’t allow for such transactions. That’s set to change with the Reserve Bank of India proposing that fintech startups be allowed to route credit on UPI transactions through digital wallets, said two sources aware of the developments.

Read this article for free

In addition, access 50+ archived articles and 3 new articles every month

Join our community of 100,000+ top executives, VCs, entrepreneurs, and brightest student minds

Trusted by the best

Karthik Reddy

Blume Ventures

The CapTable brings a refreshing set of insights for us at the Blume team, highlighting stories that bring together the underlying business and founders with that of investors' journeys with these startups. It's an important perspective that very few bring to startup ecosystem enthusiasts.

Latest Articles

Flipkart’s tricky math of wooing budget shoppers

The Walmart-owned ecommerce giant is betting it can chase India’s price-sensitive masses and profitability at the same time, but its strategy of slashing fees and controlling seller pricing is creating fresh tensions

Pranav Balakrishnan

India’s Mobile Gaming Boom: All Play, No Pay?

Indians downloaded a staggering 8.45 billion mobile games in FY25, but generated in-app revenues of only $400 million. The country has more than half a billion gamers today, but monetisation remains a challenge. Homegrown game publishers are now looking overseas to extract more revenue per user.

Sohini Mitter

CBDC corridors: How India can redefine global trade with fintech at the helm

India's fintechs could unlock billions in global trade by building digital currency corridors, cutting bank fees and creating faster cross-border payments worldwide.

K Yatish Rajawat

VerSe, Builder.ai, and the cloud deal that made Microsoft rethink its approach

Microsoft’s investment in VerSe Innovation was intended to secure a long-term Azure customer. Instead, it led to a strained relationship—one that has prompted a reassessment of how Microsoft structures its strategic cloud deals.

Team Captable

Akshayakalpa grew big without growing fast. And that was always the plan

The 15-year-old organic dairy company is defying every rule, and several near-death experiences, to grow at a slow but steady pace of its own choosing. But can this approach survive in an increasingly fast-moving market?

Shivani Verma

Convinced that The Captable stories and insights
will give you the edge?

Convinced that The Captable stories
and insights will give you the edge?

Subscribe Now

Stories

Explore