The Tata Group is expected to launch its own UPI platform soon and give the top digital payment apps, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay and Paytm a run for their money, reported Economic Times.
The salt-to-software conglomerate is currently seeking clearance from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to start operating on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a third-party payments service provider offering digital payments services, people briefed on the matter said, wrote ET.
This is believed to be a part of group’s plans to have a formidable presence in the internet economy. Through its digital commerce unit Tata Digital, the group is in talks with ICICI Bank to power its UPI infrastructure, the report said quoting sources.
Non-banking platforms such as PhonePe and Google Pay are meant to join hands with banks to be able to get access to UPI infrastructure. With the technology-focused approach to serve consumers, non-banking apps have incidentally fared better on UPI. For instance, PhonePe and GooglePay have the largest share of UPI transactions while Amazon Pay, Paytm and WhatsApp Pay are the other apps.
UPI apps, especially when they are dealing with large transaction volumes, opt to work with multiple banks to share the load. For instance, GooglePay offers UPI through State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
“The Tatas have applied to the NPCI to operate as TPAP (Third Party Application Providers) and are hoping it can go live next month,” a source revealed, ET reported.
It is interesting to note that Tata Digital has also finalised plans to launch its much-awaited Superapp Tata Neu next month.
In February, UPI saw 4.52 billion transactions in total, as per data from NPCI.
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