New UPI players weaponise cashback to chip away at PhonePe-Google Pay duopoly
super.money, Navi, POP and Kiwi are using aggressive cashback and rewards to acquire users for credit, commerce and RuPay card plays. The PhonePe-Google Pay combined share slipped to 79% in May from 83% in January, while Paytm's promotional cashback jumped 154% QoQ to ₹104 cr in Q4.
What happened
New UPI players like POP, super.money, Navi and Kiwi are using cashback and rewards as acquisition hooks for stickier credit, commerce and RuPay card
Key facts
- Navi UPI: 824.11M txns worth ₹43,601.66 cr in May 2026
- super.money: 418.84M txns worth ₹19,422.73 cr in May 2026
- Google Pay + PhonePe combined share 79% in May vs 83% in Jan
- Paytm promotional cashback ₹104 cr in Q4, up 154% QoQ, 73% YoY
- POPclub UPI volumes fell 85% from 63.7M (Jul 2025) to 9.5M (Dec)
Why this matters
Scout acquisition or partnership targets among cashback-fueled UPI challengers before their user bases consolidate into credit and commerce monetization moats.