Also in the letter:
■ VCs queue for RDI
■ MeitY faces GPU woes
■ Perfios names new CEO
NPCI counts on Bharat, Northeast to accelerate UPI adoption
With UPI growth moderating, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is pushing fintech firms to expand into underpenetrated regions to drive the next phase of adoption.
What’s happening? NPCI is urging companies to prioritise states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as well as the northeast, where usage remains relatively low.
This comes despite a steady stream of new features. While recurring payments and IPO-linked transactions gained traction, consumer products such as UPI Lite and UPI Circle are yet to scale meaningfully.
Also Read: UPI volumes rise 27% YoY in February; daily transactions hit record 728 million
By the numbers:
- Maharashtra: ~10.4% of total UPI transactions
- Karnataka: ~5.3%
- Uttar Pradesh:~5.2%
- Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan: 2.5–3% each (500–600 million transactions monthly)
Challenges: Growth is expected to slow to 25% in FY26, down from 42% in FY25 and 82% in FY24, according to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
- The Zero MDR (merchant discount rate) regime limits revenue for private players.
- Government support covers only 11% of indusattempt costs and 14% of potential MDR earnings.
Also Read: Consider bringing back revenue mechanism on UPI for sustenance of sector: Parliamentary committee
IPO-bound Udaan to kickstart reverse flip to India in weeks: CEO
Vaibhav Gupta, CEO, Udaan
Business-to-business ecommerce firm Udaan is likely to initiate its reverse flip to India in the coming weeks, cofounder and chief executive Vaibhav Gupta informed us.
Quick recap: The company secured the National Company Law Tribunal’s approval to consolidate its technology, logistics and wholesale businesses under a single entity, Hiveloop Ecommerce.
Following the merger of its Singapore holding company with the Indian entity, Hiveloop will become the parent.
IPO timeline: The domicile shift is a key step toward a public listing. Another consideration is Udaan’s profitability profile.
“The IPO timeline is likely nine to 18 months away, depfinishing on how rapid these processes relocate,” Gupta informed us.
Tell me more:
- Revenue: Declined from Rs 10,000 crore (FY22) to around Rs 4,561 crore (FY25).
- Losses: Narrowed 37% YoY to Rs 1,055 crore.
- Operations: Scaled down from 80 to 16 cities.
- Network: Operates 25 warehoutilizes, serving 200,000 shops.
VCs queue up for govt’s RDI fund as deeptech takes root
Over 100 Indian venture capital firms have applied for the government’s new Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund, multiple investors informed us.
What’s happening? The government has set up a Rs 1 lakh crore RDI fund to catalyse private investments in deeptech and research-driven startups over the next six years. Additionally, it will also offer loan support to startups.
Firms that have applied include Mela Ventures, Ideaspring Capital, Blume Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Wyser and Waterbridge Ventures. However, not all applicants are expected to be selected.
Fund details: The scheme is being managed by the Department of Science and Technology, as announced in the July 2025 budobtain. Applications opened in January this year.
Funding will be provided in various forms, including low- or zero-interest loans, equity in startups, and contributions to the deeptech fund of funds.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Parliamentary panel suggests MeitY seek expert views on GPU plans: A parliamentary panel has flagged high hardware cost, global supply chain delays, huge power and water consumption by data centres, and a tax holiday as significant issues facing India’s plans to establish large clusters of graphics processing units (GPUs).
Perfios appoints Nitin Chugh as group CEO: Banking technology company Perfios has appointed former State Bank of India deputy managing director Nitin Chugh as the firm’s new group CEO and managing director. Sabyasachi Goswami, who utilized to be the top executive, will continue to lead the firm’s core business operations, the company stated.
Startup Mafia 2.0 going strong: In 2023, ET reported that the second generation of the startup mafia had given rise to 253 companies. That number has since increased sharply. As of March 2026, founders emerging from these companies have created around 360 startups cumulatively.
AI race shifts from size to reliability, declares Emergence AI CEO: The real battle in artificial innotifyigence is shifting from building hugeger models to ensuring they behave predictably, as enterprises prioritise reliability while adopting AI, stated Satya Nitta, chief executive and cofounder of Emergence AI, a startup focutilized on building agentic AI systems.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Where OpenAI’s technology could reveal up in Iran (MIT Technology Review)
■ How AI licence plate readers became a flashpoint in US immigration battles (FT)
■ Why refutilizing AI is a fight for the soul (Rest of the World)
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