Viraj Tyagi

PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has appointed Shivnath Thukral, former Public Policy Director at Meta India, as Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs. In his new role, Thukral will join the leadership team and work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari to shape policy engagement strategies and drive key strategic initiatives. “We are delighted to have Shivnath join the PhonePe team. He comes with a rich experience and deep understanding of public policy, regulatory frameworks, and strategic advocacy," said Nigam in a statement. Thukral’s appointment comes at a crucial time as PhonePe prepares for its highly anticipated public listing. The company transitioned from a private entity to a public company in April 2024, and has initiated groundwork for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). As per reports, PhonePe has enlisted Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley as advisers and is aiming for a valuation of up to $15 billion, following its previous private valuation of around $12 billion. Thukral, who stepped down from Meta India in June after more than seven years, brings deep experience in navigating complex policy environments. His entry is expected to bolster PhonePe’s regulatory relationships and thought leadership as it steps into the public market spotlight.

594

8 Comments

🚀 Building India's Next-Gen Collections Infrastructure: DPDzero Raises $7M (~₹61Cr) Series A DPDzero (Fund IV) has raised $7M in Series A funding led by GMO VenturePartners, GMO PaymentGateway,Inc. We participated in the round along with SMBC Asia Rising Fund, IndiaQuotient, Sinarmas Group, and others. Founded by Ananth Shroff and Ranjith B.R. Ramachandra, DPDzero is reimagining debt collection for Indian lenders by combining behavioral data, AI-powered agents, and empathy. They aim to build a high-performance, ethics-focused collections infrastructure for India's financial institutions. The fresh capital will fuel the expansion of their AI-led multilingual collections platform and help establish a professional network of field collection agents. The company has already demonstrated impressive traction, growing revenue 6X in the past 18 months, and works with leading lenders including Tata Capital, Moneyview, L&T Finance, and Manappuram Finance Limited. "Collection has been the ignored stepchild of lending; it's low tech, low intelligence, and worryingly, low ethics, as well," says Ananth Shroff, CEO. "We are building the collections company India has been waiting for—reinventing everything from the ground up, bringing back the dignity it really deserves." Sajith Pai, Partner at Blume remarked "When we first backed DPDzero, we bet on two relentless founders chasing an unsexy but massive problem. Today, they've built a product lenders love, scaled revenues 6X, and are winning serious institutional trust." As digital lending expands across India, DPDzero is ensuring that collections evolve to become more efficient, ethical, and borrower-friendly. To know more, please click the following link: https://lnkd.in/dhje2_Ab Karthik B. Reddy, Ashish Fafadia, Sanjay Nath, Arpit Agarwal, Sajith Pai, Rohit Kaul, Ria Shroff Desai, Mitul Mehta, Alok Mehta, Deepika Jain, Sarita Raichura, Gautham Sivaramakrishnan, Vikram Gawande, Elton C.

187

14 Comments

Razorpay has appointed Mrityunjoy Das as Director, Domestic Payments (Strategic Accounts). In his new role, he will drive growth within the payments ecosystem and strengthen strategic partnerships to enhance Razorpay’s market presence in enterprise segments.   With over a decade of experience in enterprise strategy, client engagement, and digital payments, Mrityunjoy brings proven leadership in advancing financial solutions. His appointment marks a strategic step in Razorpay's mission to deliver tailored, high-impact payment offerings to its clients.   Focused on elevating customer value and scaling Razorpay’s retail payments footprint, Mrityunjoy will play a central role in innovating solutions that align with evolving market dynamics. His leadership is expected to reinforce the company’s commitment to delivering superior service, fostering robust partnerships, and providing seamless customer experiences in the digital payments space.   Previously, he has been part of companies such as Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, GLOBAL VISION, Info Edge India Ltd., and PayU. #ThePortfolioMagazine #LeadershipUpdate #Razorpay #DigitalPayments #FintechIndia #StrategicGrowth #EnterpriseSolutions #ClientEngagement #PaymentsInnovation #RetailPayments #MrityunjoyDas #FintechLeadership #Partnerships #CustomerExperience #PaymentsEcosystem

275

18 Comments

India's UPI ecosystem is witnessing transformative updates as NPCI rolls out new operational guidelines, effective 1 August 2025. Next in our 'Payments Perspectives' series, Ram Rastogi 🇮🇳, Digital Payments Strategist and Chairman of the Governance Council of the Board, Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), talks about how these changes are building a more efficient and future-ready UPI experience for users and platforms alike. With over 18 billion transactions processed in June alone, these implementations aim to improve reliability during peak load while simultaneously preventing fraudulent activities and curbing access through dormant IDs. Swipe through to read what this means for India's digital payment infrastructure.  #amazon #fintech #digitalpayments #upi #npci

161

6 Comments

We are looking to make a significant move at Zaggle. We are expanding beyond our stronghold in B2B to enter the consumer fintech ecosystem. We are in advanced stages to acquire Rio (pending execution of definitive agreements), a Bengaluru-based fintech startup specialized in UPI payments and co-branded consumer credit cards. Why this matters? Rio’s expertise will enable us at Zaggle to offer credit cards to our existing 3.2 million+ users already connected through our 3,400+ corporate clients. This is not just an extension of our product line, it’s a strategic milestone that marks our entry into the rapidly growing consumer credit card space via UPI. Rio brings deep expertise in UPI solutions and consumer credit cards, with differentiated product offerings. This move aligns with our vision to drive stronger loyalty, engagement and value for millions in our ecosystem. While the transaction is subject to final agreements and conditions precedent, our intent on direction is clear. We are excited about unlocking new opportunities and delivering innovative financial solutions that meet real consumer needs. Link to full article in the comments below.

554

66 Comments

Housing finance platform Weaver Services has raised $170 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed and Premji Invest with participation from Gaja Capital. The funds will be used to acquire assets, improve technology and expand into tier-II and tier-III cities. Founder and Vice Chairman Satrajit Bhattacharya also announced Viswanathan N (Vishy) as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Weaver. Read full article link in the comment 👇 #weaverservices #housefinance #funding #startupnews

214

8 Comments

🚨 Digital lender Zype raises Rs 90 Cr led by UNLEASH Capital Partners. AI-led digital lender Zype has secured ₹90 crore in Series B funding led by UNLEASH Capital Partners, with Xponentia Capital also participating. The startup plans to use the capital to expand its credit and payments offerings, grow in Tier II and III cities, and build a profit-first, sustainable lending model. Founded in 2023, Zype has already become profitable, serving 3 lakh+ borrowers and disbursing ₹1,300+ crore in loans, targeting India’s emerging salaried class with urgency-driven credit. By Sayan Sen Read more: https://lnkd.in/dhdHJ7Vs #FintechIndia #DigitalLending #ZypeFunding #Tier2Tier3Growth

64

WhatsLoan-046 Bharat Series Sept 2025 BNPL as Convenience Commerce 1. Why RBI is Restricting BNPL RBI’s stance is shaped by risk, regulation, and consumer protection: • Unsecured Lending in Disguise: BNPL looks like a simple checkout option, but in reality it extends credit without the safeguards of a loan (no KYC, no credit bureau reporting in some cases). • Weak Oversight: Payment aggregators were running quasi-lending operations without NBFC licenses or RBI approval. • Systemic Risk: If left unchecked, millions of micro-loans can build up hidden credit exposure outside regulated lending channels. • Consumer Protection: Customers may not realize that delayed payments incur penalties, or that defaults impact their credit. Hence, RBI treats BNPL as lending rather than just a “convenience commerce and payment option.” 2. Why BNPL Can Feel Like “Convenience Commerce” (30–90 Days) • For short-term deferrals (15–90 days, single payment), BNPL resembles a checkout convenience, like “pay at delivery” or a free grace period. • These are usually zero-cost to customers, funded by merchant discount rates (MDR) or fees. • From a consumer’s perspective, it feels like commerce facilitation, not debt. But the catch: even this short-term exposure involves the BNPL company advancing money to merchants and carrying repayment risk, which is credit in regulatory terms. 3. When BNPL Becomes Like Credit Cards (Up to 12 Months) • When repayment is structured into EMIs (3–12 months), BNPL mirrors credit card EMI products. • RBI expects: • Credit bureau reporting • Interest/charges disclosure • Regulatory capital and provisioning (like banks/NBFCs) • This aligns BNPL with regulated revolving/term credit products. 4. Beyond 12 Months → Treated as Unsecured Lending • Anything beyond 12 months clearly ceases to be “short-term convenience.” • It becomes a personal loan in EMI disguise, needing: • NBFC license or partnership with a regulated lender • Standard loan agreements • Fair lending practices (APR disclosure, collections framework) 5. The Regulatory Logic • 0–90 days → Convenience commerce (but RBI still cautious, since money is advanced). • 3–12 months → Treated like credit cards/consumer durable loans, with EMI structure. • 12+ months → Pure unsecured lending, only permissible through NBFC/bank partnerships. In effect, RBI is saying: If it looks like credit, designed like credit, and carries repayment risk, it must be regulated as credit.

100

3 Comments

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐁𝐅𝐂𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥? In our latest podcast, Kinjal Vadgama of Sarthi Money breaks down the real reasons behind the digital inertia in Bharat’s lending ecosystem and what it takes to cross the tech chasm.  Don’t miss this sharp, on-the-ground take: https://lnkd.in/gyzvWhNV #signedandsealed #digitaltransformation #itmustbeussigndesk #theundisputedleader #digitalcontracts

57

Exciting news for financial inclusion! The RBI’s recent clarification that no minimum CIBIL score is required for loans opens new opportunities for first-time borrowers. Introducing CARD91’s Blitz Score ,AI-powered UPI based BRE Score—a game-changer for banks. By leveraging real-time UPI transaction data, it generates precise credit scores (0-100), enabling accurate risk assessment, streamlined approvals, and access to underserved segments. Empower your lending strategy with data-driven insights! #Fintech #FinancialInclusion #UPIScore https://lnkd.in/gC4xWDqh

53

1 Comment