Big banks step up play in UPI space

SBI, Axis and Yes get aggressive in courting non-customers

- AJAY RAMANATHAN

LEADING BANKS SUCH as State Bank of India and Axis Bank are looking to increase their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market share by upgrading their mobile applications to draw in both customers and non-customers.

Armed with a third-party application provider (TPAP) licence, they are making an aggressive foray into the space currently dominated by Phone Pe, Google Pay and Paytm.

"We want our app to serve as an alternative to the existing UPI apps. Since we want to serve new customers of the bank or noncustomers, they should be able to do things that they do on third-party applications," says Nitin Chugh, deputy managing director and head (digital banking and transformation), State Bank of India (SBI).

SBI is set to launch a revamped YONO 2.0 platform accessible to both customers and non-customers. The application will serve as a marketplace wherein users will be able to avail banking services and purchase products. Currently, banks need a TPAP licence to service non-customers.

"Even if you do not have an account with SBI, you can come on the application, register yourself and start making UPI payments, much like what you would do on PhonePe or Google Pay," says Chugh.

This eagerness among banks to make inroads into the UPI payments segment stems from the fact that UPI transactions have been rising steadily in recent years. UPI transaction volumes surpassed 12 billion, and transaction value crossed ₹18 trillion mark in December, data from the National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI) showed.