Amit Gandhi

The key obligations on banks / financial institutions (FIs) under the RBI’s “Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions, 2025” issued today: - Use two distinct authentication factors for digital payments; at least one must be dynamic. - Implement risk-based checks for additional authentication when needed. - Validate extra authentication for non-recurring cross-border CNP transactions. - Provide near-real-time transaction alerts, compensating customers for non-compliance. - Achieve overall compliance by April 1, 2026.

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Apple Inc. is in discussions with key Indian banks and global card networks in preparation to start Apple Pay in the world’s most populous country. The iPhone maker is in talks with ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd., as it aims to introduce its payment service in India around the middle of 2026, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The timeline remains fluid, but the talks indicate an approaching launch.

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A missed EMI can hurt your credit score. But so can a missed data update. Credit-bureau complaints in India are up ~4X in 3 years. Most borrowers did nothing wrong. Credit decisions today run on code. And code runs on data.. - Batch uploads. - Delayed syncing. - Inconsistent reporting. One silent mismatch — and trust erodes. The RBI has stepped in, mandating more frequent credit-data reporting , now fortnightly and moving towards weekly. But accuracy isn’t a frequency problem. It’s about design, ownership, and accountability. When algorithms influence financial futures, data reliability becomes responsibility. 👉 How would you redesign credit systems so trust isn’t an afterthought? #TechLeadership #DataReliability #DataQuality #DataEngineering #FinTech #CreditScore #DigitalTrust #ResponsibleTech #TechnologyLeadership #FinTechIndia #BankingTechnology #DigitalIndia #AIinFinance #DataGovernance #SystemDesign #RBI #FinancialInfrastructure #TrustByDesign #NBFC #Bank

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UPI is no longer just India’s dominant payment method. It is quietly becoming a foundational layer of global digital payments infrastructure. In January 2026 alone, UPI processed 21.7 billion transactions worth ₹28.33 lakh crore (NPCI data). For context: Visa processed 257.5 billion transactions globally in all of 2025 i.e. roughly 21.5 billion per month. UPI has reached comparable monthly scale in under a decade. Visa took over 50 years. But scale alone is not the story. UPI’s real advantage is architectural. It evolved from a “payment method” into a coordination layer: -> Interoperable rails designed to avoid ecosystem lock-in -> Clear role separation: banks anchor trust and settlement; fintechs drive UX, innovation, and distribution -> Operational excellence: reliability, reversals, and settlement consistency mattered more than pricing optics Payments became invisible infrastructure - something builders rely on, not work around. As a result, competition shifted above the rail. Where differentiation now happens: 1. Authorization intelligence Dynamic routing based on bank performance, traffic, and real-time reliability. Static rules are already giving way to adaptive, AI-driven decisioning. 2. Payment initiation & intent handling From QR flows to SDKs, devices, and non-visual interfaces. 3. Context-aware instruments Credit-on-UPI, UPI Lite (₹5K offline cap), AutoPay mandates (1.27B+ transactions in late 2025), subscriptions, and EMI-native flows. The rail stays stable. The intelligence layered on top evolves rapidly. Also, AI and crypto are not alternatives to UPI flows. They are increasingly becoming supporting layers. Three shifts likely to converge next: 1. AI-driven “invisible” payments Following the 2025 NPCI–OpenAI pilot, agent-led commerce is emerging from discovery to UPI completion. Routine transactions will increasingly be conversational and autonomous. 2. Crypto on UPI rails The debate has moved from “vs” to “on.” With regulatory clarity improving and courts recognizing crypto as property, UPI is becoming the primary fiat on-ramp. NPCI pilots around blockchain-hybrid settlement point toward cheaper, faster cross-border flows. 3. Infrastructure diplomacy at global scale UPI is now live across 8+ countries (including France, UAE, and Singapore), with Japan and Malaysia joining via Project Nexus. UPI One World allows non-Indian users to pay without local bank accounts - effectively turning a domestic rail into a portable protocol. The user experience is being abstracted away. What remains is a programmable coordination layer defined by trust, speed, and intelligent settlement logic. UPI didn’t just win India. It may redefine how payment infrastructure scales globally. #UPI #Payments #FinTech #AI #Crypto #ProductManagement #DigitalPayments

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PayPal Partners with NPCI to Take India's UPI Worldwide In a landmark move for cross-border digital payments, PayPal has teamed up with NPCI International Payments Limited (the global arm of NPCI) to integrate India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) into its new PayPal World platform. Announced in July 2025, PayPal World is a first-of-its-kind global ecosystem connecting major digital wallets and payment systems including PayPal, Venmo (US), Tenpay Global (China), Mercado Pago (Latin America), and now UPI (India) representing nearly 2 billion users worldwide. This partnership enables seamless interoperability, allowing Indian UPI users to shop online with international merchants (starting with participating PayPal merchants in the US) directly using their familiar UPI apps - no cards, no complex forex conversions, just fast, secure real-time payments. As Ritesh Shukla, MD & CEO of NPCI International Payments Limited, noted: “The integration of UPI on PayPal World’s platform will mark a significant step in expanding UPI’s global footprint. It aligns with our vision to make cross-border payments more seamless, secure, and inclusive.” For global businesses and merchants, this opens the door to a massive base of UPI users (hundreds of millions in India alone), reducing friction in international e-commerce and fostering inclusive growth. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss has highlighted UPI as the first payments system partner on this platform, underscoring India's leadership in real-time digital payments and its potential to influence global standards. This collaboration is more than a technical integration it's a powerful signal of how India's fintech innovation (UPI revolutionized domestic payments) is now exporting simplicity and speed to the world stage. What do you think will this accelerate more global adoption of UPI-like systems? How might it impact cross-border e-commerce and remittances? Excited to see where this goes! #FinTech #DigitalPayments #UPI #PayPal #CrossBorderPayments #Innovation #IndiaFintech #GlobalPayments

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A first-generation borrower on a basic smartphone. Trying to access a ₹30,000 loan. Before disbursal, they're asked to share data from their bank, telecom, UPI history, and utility payments. A separate consent for each. Most drop off before they finish. This is the consent problem in thin-file lending, and it's where well-designed credit journeys fail more than most teams admit. Five years ago, the question was whether enough data existed to assess bureau-invisible borrowers. That is largely settled. UPI, GST, Account Aggregator, telecom: the signals exist, and lenders know how to use them. The harder question today is whether borrowers will share that data. Most consent flows assume users who are digitally confident and financially familiar. First-time borrowers are neither. AI and good design can change this. Four shifts matter most. -> Ask only for the signals that matter. Every borrower segment has a central underwriting question. For a gig worker, income stability: platform payout history and UPI inflows. For a small business owner, operational health: GST filings, supplier payments, receivables. For an informal-economy salaried borrower without payslips, income regularity: UPI salary credits and recurring transactions. The two or three signals that answer that question are the only ones the borrower should be asked to share. -> Identify the segment carefully, and ask for more when unsure. The segment is inferred from the borrower's first low-friction inputs: declared occupation, pin code, and the initial UPI consent. When the inference is confident, the consent ask stays narrow. When it is not, the system asks for a broader set rather than guessing. -> Ask in stages, not all at once. Most drop-offs happen at the "share everything now" stage. Start with the lowest-friction signal, make a preliminary assessment, and ask for more only if the borrower clears the first threshold. Completion rates improve, without weakening the credit decision. -> Treat the consent screen as the highest-stakes moment in the journey. Show a soft approval before asking for full consent — "you are pre-eligible for ₹X, share one more signal to confirm" — so the borrower has something to gain by completing. And anchor trust in the rails, not just the lender brand: for a first-time borrower, UPI and Account Aggregator carry more weight than any individual lender. Radical simplicity at the surface, rigour preserved underneath. The signal problem is solved. The consent problem is where the real work now lies. For those building or investing in credit in India: which of these shifts feels most underrated today? #Fintech #BFSI #Lending #AI #CreditInclusion

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