India's Fintech Newsroom · Est. 2024
Category
UPI, cards, wallets and the rails moving money across India — coverage of the platforms, protocols and policy shaping how a billion people pay.
FEATURED · UPI & NPCI
NPCI's low-connectivity payment mode is now processing small-ticket transactions in areas where network coverage remains patchy, reshaping how rural India pays.
NPCI International signs new merchant-acquiring partnerships across Southeast Asia and the Gulf, extending RuPay's reach beyond UPI corridors.
Users can now authorise a secondary payer on their account with spend limits and real-time alerts.
Consolidation accelerates as compliance costs rise.
New settlement corridors connect Indian banks with Gulf and Asian merchants.
Subscription platforms have until March to migrate saved cards to network tokens or lose auto-debit access.
“Offline-first isn't a fallback anymore — for 200 million Indians, it's the primary way they'll ever touch digital payments.”
— PRODUCT LEAD, NPCI UPI LITE
A pilot across three states lets users complete UPI transactions via voice command on basic phones, without a smartphone or app.
Static QR codes at small retailers will be phased out in favour of session-based codes that expire after each scan.
Users will no longer need to re-authenticate every recurring mandate below ₹15,000 individually.
A sandbox programme allows transfers between competing wallet apps without cashing out to a bank account first.
Card networks have pushed for a higher no-PIN threshold to reduce checkout friction.
Banks credit the fall to mandatory re-KYC for dormant UPI handles reactivated after 90 days.
Adoption is strongest in states with lower smartphone penetration, NPCI data shows.