Razorpay allows merchants to accept credit card payments via UPI

Bengaluru: Fintech platform Razorpay on Monday announced an industry-first move to enable merchants to accept credit card transactions on unified payments interface (UPI), as the digital payments landscape witnesses a stupendous growth.

With RuPay credit cards being enabled on UPI, Razorpay merchants can begin accepting credit card payments on UPI, with minimal changes to their existing setup.

The company said that move is made possible in partnership with Axis bank, which shares Razorpay's focus on catering to the ever-evolving needs of merchants and delivering greater convenience.

This offering is in line with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) latest innovation in the digital space, said the company. On October 4, the NPCI allowed the linking of RuPay credit cards with the BHIM UPI app.

"For this enablement to bring in the impact, the readiness of any payment gateway infrastructure is essential. Under this context, Razorpay has taken the first step towards democratising credit card transactions on UPI for our merchants," said Shashank Kumar, MD and Co-founder, Razorpay.

Approximately 250 million Indians use UPI for their day-to-day transactions, and nearly 50 million users have one or more credit cards.

The customers of HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank and Indian Bank will be the first to enjoy the benefits of this innovation, said the company.

"This will enable users to transact seamlessly with merchants across India on credit rails in line with the government's vision to expand the structured credit infrastructure in India," said Nalin Bansal, Chief of Corporate and Fintech Relationships and Key Initiatives, NPCI.

According to the RBI data, the credit card industry in the country has grown steadily at the rate of 30 per cent over the last three years.

"We believe this move has the potential to change the way customers make payments in the next 2-3 years," said Sanjeev Moghe, President & Head - Cards & Payments, Axis Bank.