India-based fintech Razorpay has announced that it will enable merchants to accept credit card transactions on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in partnership with Axis Bank . The announcement marks an industry-first move and aims to further strengthen digital payments and boost credit penetration in the region, with Razopay becoming the first PG to support credit cards on UPI.

The company’s update is brought forth in collaboration with Axis Bank, who shares Razorpay’s mission in supporting the continuously changing needs of merchants and delivering convenience, with the offering being in line with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) latest innovation in the digital space. With RuPay credit cards being now enabled on UPI, Razorpay merchants are given the option of accepting credit card payments while having minimal modifications to their existing setup. The first to be enabled to benefit from the product update will be customers of HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, and Indian Bank, as per the company’s announcement.

The digital payments scene in India and further UPI details Currently, customers are enabled to carry out transactions via UPI through their bank accounts. Following this announcement, linking credit cards with UPI will help ensure that customers will no longer have a need for always having their credit cards with them to carry out payments. As per information found in Razorpay’s press release, an approximate of 250 million users in India use UPI when it comes to daily transactions, and almost 50 million users have one or more credit cards; the financial regulator’s move aims to enable customers to experience both UPI payments and the benefits of short-term credit, as well as rewards of cards.

Razorpay representatives have advised that India is one of the few regions that have managed to foster innovation through means of directional regulation, and the company has been looking to bring products to market that would help translate opportunities into exponential impact for both their merchants and the country. The company believes NPCI’s, and RBI’s decision is set to have positive implications both for consumers and merchants, with them being enabled to transact and accept payments via credit cards on UPI. However, for the enablement to be impactful, payment gateway infrastructures need to be ready and, having this knowledge at its basis, Razorpay decided to take the first steps towards democratising credit card transactions on UPI for their merchant customer base.

NPCI officials added that by partnering with Razorpay, they facilitate acceptance of credit card payments through UPI, enabling users to transact with merchants across India on credit rails in line with the government’s vision of expanding the structured credit infrastructure in the region. Having active participation from a partner of the likes of Razorpay, the institution believes that this will help accelerate go-to-market by enabling credit cardholders to make these kinds of transactions and therefore eliminating the need for a physical card. Furthermore, the development is thought to be of vital importance to the ecosystem, with the company looking to expand its suite of services while simultaneously boosting credit penetration in India.

As per RBI data quoted by the Press Trust of India, the credit card industry in the country has been growing at a rate of 30% over the past three years, however, the industry still has low penetration rates, with only 6% of Indians having access to a credit card, whereas UPI is used by over 40% of Indians. With India adopting digital payments for its transaction needs, businesses and merchants have a need for access to a seamless experience. Having this knowledge at its basis, Razorpay has adapted its innovation-first approach to the dynamic regulatory environments, looking to address the complexities merchants face with payments, aiming to be a platform that helps simplify payments and banking for businesses.

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