Sachin Bansal’s Navi To Enter Digital Payments Domain With Launch Of Navi UPI

Sachin Bansal-led fintech startup Navi Technologies on Saturday (August 19) said it is foraying into the digital payments space with the launch of Navi UPI.

“At Navi, we’ve been working hard on something new and are super excited to announce the upcoming launch of “Navi UPI” – our leap into the payments domain! We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with NPCI to help realise its mission to reach every single Indian and thankful to their team for guiding us through this process,” the IPO-bound startup said in a post on LinkedIn.

However, it did not offer any further details on the gamut of services that will be offered by the platform.

With this, Navi joins a growing list of consumer-facing internet startups from CRED to Zomato that have recently launched their own Unified Payments Interface (UPI) offerings. The new UPI product is likely a part of Navi’s strategy to augment its operations and create alternate streams of revenue. 

The fintech startup could be eyeing government subsidies for digital payment enablers which could further add to its topline. It could also be looking to create an in-house system that would spare the need for routing payment transactions through third-party players and keep merchant data within the confines of the startup. 

The development comes at a time when the digital payments ecosystem in the country has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years, with monthly UPI transactions nearing the 1,000 Cr mark. As per the data of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 996 Cr transactions worth INR 15.34 Lakh Cr in July 2023, growing month-on-month (MoM) and year-on-year (YoY). 

Founded in 2018 by Bansal and Ankit Agarwal, Bengaluru-based Navi Technologies is a fintech startup that operates in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and offers a gamut of services from insurance to micro-finance. 

The company recently sold its subsidiary Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd for INR 1,479 Cr to Ananya Birla-led Svatantra Microfin. 

Just a month ago, Navi fired about 200 employees. There is also no clarity on its proposed INR 3,350 Cr IPO. Navi Technologies, the parent of the startup, slipped in the red in FY22, reporting a net loss of INR 362 Cr as against a net profit of INR 71 Cr in FY21.