Smaller UPI apps seek NPCI consultation on UPI Meta amid concentration concerns
Smaller UPI players have urged NPCI to widen consultation on UPI Meta, arguing that saved default payment-app preferences on merchant platforms could reinforce PhonePe and Google Pay’s dominance and constrain customer acquisition for emerging apps.
What happened
Smaller UPI apps have asked NPCI for wider consultation on UPI Meta, warning that saved default payment-app preferences on merchant platforms could entrench
Key facts
- PhonePe accounts for around 45% of UPI transaction volume
- Google Pay accounts for about 33% of UPI transaction volume
- Navi, super.money and BHIM each account for around 1-2% of transaction volume
Why this matters
Payments, commerce and platform acquirers should assess whether smaller UPI apps become more willing partnership or acquisition targets if NPCI safeguards fail to prevent default-led concentration.
What to watch
- NPCI consultation notice, participant list and publication of draft UPI Meta technical or UX standards.
- Rules on who stores payment-app preference data, whether preferences are portable, and how often users must be offered a fresh choice.
- Requirements for default-app disclosure, app-picker prominence, switching steps and merchant/platform audit logs.
- Pilot merchant announcements around Global Fintech Fest and the initial mix of participating payment apps.
- Changes in transaction-share trends for PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm and smaller UPI apps after pilot deployment.
- Any Competition Commission, RBI or consumer-protection scrutiny focused on payment-default design or self-preferencing.
- Smaller UPI apps will seek mandatory default-reset intervals, a neutral app-picker at first use, one-tap switching and common APIs for merchant integrations.
- Large apps will lobby for a low-friction implementation framed around checkout conversion, fraud reduction and consumer convenience.
- Merchant platforms and payment aggregators will assess whether UPI Meta can increase repeat conversion, reduce failed transactions and create new leverage over payment-app placement.
- NPCI may use phased pilots, certification requirements and reporting obligations to test whether default settings affect transaction-share concentration.
- Regulators may increasingly evaluate UPI market power through checkout-distribution access, not only transaction-volume share.