The central bank hasn’t completely abandoned the plan to create an alternative to India’s flagship payment processor. But the competing consortiums, including the likes of Reliance, Tata, Google and Meta, still have a long way to go.
Early last year, the Reserve Bank of India reportedly put on hold its plan to create “new umbrella entities”, the proposed private-sector rivals to the National Payments Corporation of India. NPCI is an industry body that runs UPI, India’s state-backed digital payments platform.
However, three industry executives in the know say the central bank is still working to keep the initiative alive and could revive it this year; all three spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was in 2019 that the central bank had first invited companies to forge consortiums and apply for licences to set up new umbrella entities, …
Ashwin covered fintech and banking at The Morning Context. Previously, he was at The Economic Times, where he worked across the finance, tech and startup verticals, breaking stories related to India’s banking system, startups in the new economy, digital payments, insurance and cryptocurrencies.
Writer
ashwin@mailtmc.com
Delhi