On Wednesday, when the Reserve Bank of India announced that users of the Unified Payments Interface would soon be able to link their credit cards with the popular payments system, the fintech industry rejoiced. But many executives also told us the RBI’s plan to allow credit card payments on UPI presents several challenges and that more clarity is needed on a number of issues.
At present, about 50 million people avail instant loans across banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and digital lending fintechs the expectation is that this market could go up to 250 million users, said senior banking executives who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The consultation is likely to be chaired by Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. It has been planned by the IT ministry in response to a joint letter sent by tech policy groups such as The Dialogue, AccessNow, Internet Freedom Foundation, SFLC.in, BSA India and others.
The growth fundamentals of the industry are, however, stronger than ever, and “we continue seeing the undercurrents supporting long-term demand mega upcycle,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, chief executive of the Everest Group.
He was addressing the 27th annual general meeting of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) virtually.
While in bigger towns and cities, pent up demand has been exhausted and consumers have diverted their expenditure to travel and eating out, for consumers in smaller towns and rural areas, overall inflationary pressure has eaten away their discretionary spends.
The round also saw participation from angel investors like Akshay Kothari, chief operating officer of Notion, Nir Eyal author of Hooked & Indistractable and Damien Coullon, vice president of Product, LinkedIn.