Navi biggest beneficiary of NPCI, govt efforts to level UPI playing field: Sachin Bansal

Fintech company Navi Technologies has been able to break out in the crowded Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market due to efforts by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the government to promote smaller players, said its founder Sachin Bansal.

"Thankfully, there is an effort from NPCI and the government to help smaller players, and we have been the biggest beneficiary of that effort," Bansal said at an event organised by consultancy firm RedSeer in Bengaluru on March 6.

Founded in 2016, Navi is the fourth-largest player in the UPI market, said Bansal. He added that the future of UPI is credit.


"We believe the future of UPI will eventually be credit, or a significant part of UPI will be credit-driven. It's not money from a bank account but from a credit product that you will use to make payments. That will be a big change we'll see in the next five years," he said.

Talking about competitors' UPI offerings, Bansal said they have spent money but not done justice to their products. “Nobody put UPI at the front and centre of their product like we did. If you look at Amazon, or early attempts from Flipkart or WhatsApp... On WhatsApp, you cannot find where UPI is.”

Bansal said the final story of UPI hasn't played out yet, and any such market with potential will always have more space for new players, no matter how crowded.

ET reported in February that the Flipkart cofounder will transition into the role of executive chairman at Navi Group. Bansal, who served as CEO, will now shift focus to strategic initiatives.