After Razorpay and Cashfree, Paytm and PayU may cut Juspay ties. Is the payment orchestration era over?

In December, PhonePe, India’s most valuable fintech startup, announced the termination of its partnership with third-party payment routers, including Juspay, the largest among them. According to an Entrackr report, Juspay accounted for approximately 15% of PhonePe’s payment gateway volumes—a significant contribution for a payment gateway business still in its early stages of growth—making the decision an especially significant one.

For those in the payments industry, however, it was far from unexpected. In fact, a few news reports following the development suggested that other payment gateways would follow PhonePe’s lead. 

The other shoe finally dropped earlier this week, when payment companies Razorpay and Cashfree, which currently have the highest market share in the payment gateway space after BillDesk, said that they would also terminate their partnerships with Juspay to offer “direct integration” to merchants. The move, in essence, takes third-party payment routers out of the overall payment equation.