NPCI Grants Paytm Approval to Participate in UPI Payments System

Paytm will be able to participate in India’s instant mobile payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

“Now, officially your Paytm UPI will work,” the company said in a Thursday (March 14) post on X, formerly Twitter. “We have received approval from @NPCI_NPCI to participate in UPI as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) under multi-bank model.”

Now, officially your Paytm UPI will work! We have received approval from @NPCI_NPCI to participate in UPI as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) under multi-bank model

Read here: https://t.co/qTKQAiCY3Q pic.twitter.com/W6QCTGjTeF

— Paytm (@Paytm) March 14, 2024

“Thank you @NPCI_NPCI, committed to grow @UPI_NPCI to the new heights together,” Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a Thursday post on X.

The parent company of Paytm, One97 Communications Limited (OCL), has been granted approval by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to participate in UPI as a third-party application provider (TPAP) under a multi-bank model, NPCI said in a Thursday press release.

Four banks will act as payment service provider (PSP) banks to OCL, according to the release. They include Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and YES Bank.

YES Bank will also act as merchant acquiring bank for both existing and new UPI merchants for OCL, and the “@Paytm” handle will be redirected to YES Bank, per the release.

“This will enable existing users and merchants to continue to continue to do UPI transactions and AutoPay mandates in a seamless and uninterrupted manner,” NPCI said in the press release.

The entity added that it has advised OCL to migrate all existing handles and mandates to new PSP bank, wherever required and as soon as possible, according to the release.

This move is meant to facilitate the continued operation of the Paytm app after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed business restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank. It comes one day before that bank can no longer accept credits into its customer accounts and wallets.

The RBI said Feb. 23 that it asked the NPCI to consider OCL’s request to become a TPAP for the UPI channel for that reason.

“As the Paytm Payments Bank cannot accept further credits into its customer accounts and wallets after March 15, 2024, certain additional steps have become necessary to ensure seamless digital payments by UPI customers using ‘@paytm’ handle operated by the Paytm Payments Bank, and minimize concentration risk in the UPI system by having multiple payment app providers,” RBI said at the time.