Latest news with #UPI123PAY
Mint
18-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Nirmala Sitharaman urges fintechs to tap rural markets, strengthen cybersecurity
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday urged the fintech industry to shift its focus beyond urban markets and lead the next wave of innovation in rural and agricultural sectors, calling it both a business opportunity and a developmental imperative. Speaking at the Digital Payments Awards 2025, Sitharaman called for a sharper push to integrate micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with account aggregator frameworks and emphasized the need for tailored financial products for farmers and rural consumers. 'Every fintech firm should view rural India as a fertile ground, not just as a social responsibility, but as an opportunity to create new markets,' she said, adding that consumer demand in rural areas has shown strong and sustained revival. Drawing parallels with the fast-moving consumer goods sector, the minister highlighted how deep rural penetration has become a core growth strategy for many leading brands, a model she said fintech should replicate. Sitharaman also flagged key risks looming over India's expanding digital economy, urging startups and payment firms to invest more aggressively in digital literacy and cybersecurity. 'Literacy has to be improved upon. Cybersecurity is a case in which I had interaction with a few startups and fintech companies,' she said, warning against growing threats such as deepfakes and digital fraud. 'We need a set of fintech companies which are constantly working on giving solutions for the newer challenges which are arising,' she added. The minister recounted recent discussions with startups and fintech leaders, underlining the importance of ensuring that ordinary users are not 'digitally arrested at home' by malicious actors or deceptive platforms. Financial services secretary M. Nagaraju outlined the next phase of India's digital payments journey, stressing the need to deepen adoption across sectors and geographies, particularly in underserved regions. 'Our priorities must include deepening digital payment adoption across sectors and geographies,' Nagaraj said at the event. At the same time, we must strengthen cybersecurity and fraud prevention frameworks, and promote digital and financial literacy at the grassroots, he added. The remarks come as India's UPI-led digital payments infrastructure, hailed globally for its scale and efficiency, enters a new chapter of expansion, pushing beyond urban centres and into rural economies. In March 2024, the Union cabinet approved a ₹ 1,500 crore incentive scheme to promote small-ticket transactions on the BHIM-UPI platform, particularly among small merchants to spur usage in semi-urban and rural India, by expanding infrastructure through tools such as UPI 123PAY for feature phones. It has also rolled out newer solutions like UPI Lite and LiteX for faster and more reliable payments in low-connectivity environments. Lauding the role of digital companies in the cashless transition, Nagaraj said their contributions were about more than just facilitating transactions. 'Your work is not just about enabling payments, it is about enabling possibilities,' he said. 'You are helping build a financial system that is more modern, inclusive, and globally admired," he added. In recent years, India has emerged as a global leader in digital payments, with monthly UPI transactions crossing 14 billion in 2025. However, challenges remain, particularly around digital literacy, user safety, and ecosystem resilience.
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
PhonePe expands UPI payments to feature phone users
Digital payments platform PhonePe has announced its acquisition of the GSPay technology stack from conversational engagement platform Gupshup, aiming to bring UPI-based payments to feature phone users across India. The move aligns with PhonePe's financial inclusion strategy , targeting millions of consumers who remain outside the digital payments ecosystem. GSPay, built on NPCI's UPI 123PAY framework, enables seamless UPI transactions on feature phones. PhonePe plans to customize and extend the technology, launching a dedicated UPI payment app for new feature phones in the coming months. Key Features and interoperability The upcoming PhonePe app will support: Peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers Offline QR code payments Receiving funds via mobile number or self-QR codes These features will allow feature phone users to transact effortlessly with smartphone users, ensuring full interoperability in the digital payments ecosystem. PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam highlighted the significance of the expansion: "This segment has been historically underserved. By enabling UPI payments on feature phones, we hope to empower crores of users and bring them into India's digital economy." AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
IPO-bound PhonePe announces UPI payments on feature phones
Live Events Fintech firm PhonePe announced rollout of UPI-based payments for feature phones with the purchase of GSPay technology stack from conversational engagement platform is a mobile application built on top of UPI 123PAY , the UPI payment solution for feature phones by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). PhonePe said it will customise and extend the recently acquired GSPay IP and launch its own feature-phone based UPI payment mobile app on new feature phones in India, over the next few will offer basic UPI features, such as P2P transfers, offline QR payments, and receiving money from other UPI customers to users' mobile numbers or self-QRs, to create full payment interoperability between feature phones and smartphones.'This (feature phones) segment of users has been historically underserved by the digital financial industry and the broader startup ecosystem. We hope we can enable crores of these feature phone customers to participate in India's burgeoning digital payments market," said Sameer Nigam, cofounder and chief executive of to industry data, India had approximately 24 crore feature phone users in 2024, and 15 crore more feature phone shipments are expected over the next five company has recently added Zarin Daruwala to it board of directors, where she joins CEO Nigam, Walmart chief financial officer John David Rainey, former revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj and retired as the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank-India on March 31 after a nine-year-long stint. Before that, she managed the wholesale banking business of ICICI Bank as president of the vertical. In this capacity, she also served on the boards of key ICICI group companies, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, and ICICI Securities. In the past, she has been on the board of JSW has started the process to list on the Indian exchanges by converting into a public company from a private entity in April 2025.
