SBI says it missed UPI payments opportunity as PhonePe and Google Pay dominate

SBI Chairman C S Setty said the bank has fallen behind in digital payments, with its UPI app ranked 19th. SBI is building YONO Pay for existing customers while awaiting clarity on a possible UPI merchant discount-rate framework.

— Source publishedFri, 7 Aug, 2026, 22:42 IST·First seen Fri, 7 Aug, 2026, 22:54 IST·Source Business Standard · Companies

What happened

State Bank of India (SBI) · SBI Chairman C S Setty said the bank has missed the digital-payments opportunity, with PhonePe and Google Pay dominating UPI. SBI is

Key facts

  • PhonePe and Google Pay account for nearly 80% of UPI transaction volume
  • SBI's app ranked 19th among UPI applications
  • SBI processed over 23 million UPI transactions in a month
  • SBI UPI transaction value was nearly ₹6,000 crore in a month
  • Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026

Why this matters

SBI should assess partnerships or targeted acquisitions in merchant acquiring, payment technology and loyalty ecosystems to accelerate YONO Pay rather than relying solely on organic catch-up.

What to watch

  • Announcement of a UPI merchant discount-rate, interchange, subsidy or government-compensation framework.
  • YONO Pay launch timing, feature set, reliability metrics and SBI's stated user or transaction targets.
  • SBI's UPI rank, monthly transaction volume, value growth and share relative to PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.
  • Evidence of SBI merchant QR deployment, payment-aggregator alliances or payment-linked lending programs.
  • NPCI policy actions affecting market-share caps, bank incentives, third-party app providers or payment-data access.
  • Changes in SBI digital-banking customer engagement, cross-sold credit and fee-income growth.
  • Accelerate YONO Pay rollout to existing SBI account holders and integrate it with UPI, bill pay, deposits, cards and pre-approved credit.
  • Target SBI-linked merchants, government-payment recipients, pensioners and salary-account customers with lower-friction onboarding and bank-funded offers.
  • Use UPI transaction behavior to improve small-business, consumer-credit and working-capital underwriting.
  • Pursue partnerships with payment aggregators, QR acquirers and large merchant ecosystems rather than relying solely on direct app adoption.
  • Hold major merchant-acquisition spending until MDR, government incentive and UPI monetization rules are clearer.