Tech3 | NPCI relief for PhonePe and boost for WhatsApp, the 2024 startup IPO party and more
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In today’s newsletter:
·???????? NPCI’s New Year gift for PhonePe, Google Pay, WhatsApp
·???????? The 2024 startup IPO party?
·???????? GCC outpaces IT in hiring
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NPCI’s New Year gift for PhonePe, Google Pay, WhatsApp?
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It's a Happy New Year 2025 for Big Tech firms because the UPI party isn’t stopping anytime soon?
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Driving the news: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has extended the 30% UPI market share cap deadline, yet again, by two years.??
·???????? The extension comes as a relief for dominant players such as PhonePe and Google Pay that hold 85% of UPI market share.?
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NPCI chief Dilip Asbe had previously acknowledged that market share wont shift quickly, but remained optimistic on the growing “network effect”.
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“It will take longer than we initially envisaged, but the market will balance out eventually," Asbe told us.?
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NPCI’s dual play: The past six months have seen some strategic shifts that are expected to change payment dynamics.?
·???????? NPCI spun off its homegrown Bhim app, to make it more competitive in the crowded market.
·???????? New contenders are coming growing. Apps like Navi, super.money, and Fampay have snuck into the top 10.?
·???????? Paytm made a comeback after a clampdown?
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In 2024 alone, 20 companies got TPAP approval, but scaling up remains a challenge.
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Whatsapp goes off lease: Pushing the “network effect” further, WhatsApp Pay was released from its 100 million user cap.?
·???????? The app currently has over 500 million monthly active users in India.
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With this, the Meta-operated app can become a much more serious competitor in the UPI payments space, joining the ranks of the big players.
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It remains to be seen if these shifts can break the duopoly that Walmart owned PhonePe and Google Pay currently have in the booming digital payments ecosystem in India?
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