India’s Payments Boom Draws $5.8 Billion in Funding Since 2021

India's payments sector has attracted nearly $5.8 billion in funding across 371 disclosed equity rounds since 2021, underscoring the transformative impact of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the country's digital payments ecosystem, a report said on Thursday. The report by market intelligence platform Tracxn, titled "The India Payments Landscape: How UPI Made India Self-Reliant in Payments", highlights how a public digital payments infrastructure has fostered a thriving private-sector ecosystem encompassing consumer payment apps, business payment platforms and financial technology infrastructure providers.

According to the study, consumer-focused payment platforms accounted for the largest share of investments, attracting around 53 per cent of total funding, or approximately $3.1 billion. Business payments firms received about 38 per cent, while payment infrastructure and API-based enablers accounted for the remaining 9 per cent, equivalent to roughly $526 million.

“Payments companies have raised $5.8 billion across 371 disclosed equity rounds since January 2021, produced eight IPOs and 25 acquisitions, and begun consolidating around a handful of well-funded companies,” the report said. “The report’s central finding is that a public rail that charges merchants nothing has helped seed and scale a private industry above it, even as a new law reopens the question of how the rail itself should be funded,” it added.

Funding activity peaked during the technology investment boom of 2021 before slowing amid the broader funding downturn between 2022 and 2024. The report also points to increasing maturity in the sector, with companies beginning to generate exits and recycle capital. Since 2021, India's payments industry has witnessed eight initial public offerings and 25 acquisitions, the report stated.

The report further highlighted UPI's growing international footprint. Cross-border UPI transactions increased more than twenty-fold from around 37,000 in FY24 to over 7.5 lakh in FY25, while the payments network is now operational in more than a dozen countries. NPCI International has expanded UPI globally through multiple models, including linking existing payment systems, building payment rails for partner countries and sharing technology standards.

Disclaimer: "This story has been published from a syndicated news feed. Only the headline and subtitle have been edited by EPN."