The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the governing body responsible for managing the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the RuPay card network, is now stepping up on its expansion efforts. In this vein, it will now set up a new research and development (R&D) center, which will accommodate up to 5,000 employees, in Mumbai.
Speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week, NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe spoke about this initiative, stating, “We are building about a 5,000-people-capacity R&D and experience center… Around 70 countries have visited the NPCI office in the last 4-5 years.” Asbe also pointed out that the increasing adoption of AI in financial services has made it necessary for NPCI to expand its workforce. A plot has been allocated in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) for NPCI’s new global headquarters, which will provide the necessary infrastructure to accommodate a larger team.
NPCI (via its subsidiary NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has been actively working to extend the reach of UPI in global markets. Currently, UPI is operational in seven countries – Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These partnerships have enabled the adoption of India’s digital payments framework in international markets and facilitated cross-border transactions. Additionally, NPCI joined forces with the Ministry of Digital Transformation in Trinidad and Tobago in September 2023 to develop a real-time payment system modeled after UPI.
Currently, NPCI has been working with financial regulators in the UAE and Mauritius to develop domestic card schemes similar to India’s RuPay in order to create localized financial solutions that improve transaction security and efficiency in the regions. Discussions are also underway with authorities in Peru and Namibia to explore potential collaborations in the digital payments space.
The upcoming R&D center is expected to play a major role in creating and rolling out fintech. The facility is set to focus on areas such as transaction security and AI-driven fraud detection, to name some. NPCI currently operates from multiple offices in Mumbai, including its rented headquarters in BKC and additional offices in Jogeshwari and Goregaon. The development of the new headquarters is expected to streamline its operations, meaning that research teams, administrative staff, and technical experts are set to come together under one roof.
NPCI’s infrastructure expansion comes at a time when UPI transactions are witnessing unprecedented growth. According to data released by the Union Finance Ministry, UPI transactions crossed 16.99 billion last month, with the total transaction value exceeding ₹23.48 lakh crore. As of January, more than 80 UPI-enabled applications and 641 banks are live on the UPI network, providing users with multiple options for seamless transactions. And to add to this, UPI is also playing an increasingly significant role in credit transactions. Currently, approximately 8% of all credit card payments in India are processed through the UPI network. The RuPay card network, managed by NPCI, accounts for 16% of total credit card spending, with half of these transactions taking place via UPI.
