India’s Paytm gets approval to resume onboarding new UPI users

Paytm, a leading Indian financial services company, has received regulatory approval to resume onboarding new UPI users, following an eight-month restriction on many of its operations.

United Payments Interface (UPI) is a real-time instant payment system developed by the Indian government and processes more than 15 billion transactions per month, dominating India’s online payments landscape.

Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay process about 87% of UPI transactions in the country, while Paytm’s market share has shrunk from 13% to 8% after India’s central bank imposed restrictions on the company’s operations.

In March, the Reserve Bank of India ordered Paytm to stop operating several businesses in its banking subsidiary, which the company used for UPI payments, citing repeated violations of norms.

NPCI, the regulatory body that oversees UPI, on Tuesday approved Paytm’s request to resume operations at the subsidiary.

Paytm this week reported revenue of $197.4 million in the second quarter ended September, a 34% decline from revenue of $299.5 million a year earlier.