Fintech Brief — March 26, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. RBI Likely Intervened to Support Rupee Amid NDF Pressures The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday to support the rupee, as heavy dollar demand linked to maturing non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) offset relief from falling oil prices. The South Asian currency held above its record low of 93.98 per dollar, closing at 93.96, down 0.1% on the day. ...
Fintech Brief — March 25, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. SEBI Proposes Gift Cards for Mutual Fund Investments India’s markets regulator SEBI has proposed allowing gift cards or gift prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) for mutual fund investments to improve financial inclusion and onboard new investors. The proposal, outlined in a consultation paper released on March 23, aims to make mutual fund investments more accessible by enabling gifting of investment units through prepaid instruments. ...
Fintech Brief — March 23, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. NPCI Slashes RuPay Credit Card UPI Fees; PhonePe, Google Pay to Benefit The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced a reduction in UPI fees for RuPay credit card transactions, effective April 1, 2026. The revised fee structure lowers third-party app provider (TPAP) fees from 8 to 6 basis points for non-industry players and from 4 to 3 basis points for industry players. This change impacts consumer-facing UPI apps like Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe, potentially improving their margins on high-volume transactions. PhonePe and Google Pay, which process combined billions of transactions monthly, stand to gain the most from reduced fee outflows to NPCI. The fee reduction does not affect offline small merchants, EMI transactions, or merchant MDR rates. 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 22, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. PhonePe Shelves IPO Plans Citing Geopolitical Tensions Walmart-backed PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has put its Initial Public Offering (IPO) plans on hold, citing ongoing geopolitical tensions and volatile global stock markets. The decision marks a significant shift for the Flipkart-owned company, which had been preparing for one of the biggest fintech listings in Indian market history. Investment bankers working with PhonePe had recently suggested lowering valuation expectations to approximately $9 billion, down from earlier projections. The company currently leads India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem in transaction volumes, surpassing Google Pay. In February 2026, PhonePe processed about 9.3 billion transactions worth roughly ₹13.1 trillion (approximately $141.9 billion), compared with Google Pay’s 6.8 billion transactions worth around ₹9 trillion (around $97.8 billion), according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 21, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. IFSCA Unveils New FinTech Sandbox Framework for IFSCs The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has issued a comprehensive revised FinTech Sandbox Framework through Circular EF.No.: 505/IFSCA-FTec0FTEF/1/2023, dated March 16, 2026. This new framework replaces the earlier 2020 Regulatory Sandbox circular and the 2022 Framework for FinTech Entity, centralizing all innovation-related activities under a single, specialized regime for India’s International Financial Services Centres. ...
Fintech Brief — March 20, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Gold Loans Surge to ₹14 Trillion as RBI Greenlights Foreign Investment India’s gold loan sector is experiencing an unprecedented boom, with the total market now estimated at ₹14 trillion ($152 billion), according to Yan Wang, chief emerging market strategist at Alpine Macro. RBI data shows gold loans more than doubled to ₹4 trillion ($43.3 billion) in January 2026 from ₹1.75 trillion a year earlier, making gold-backed lending the largest retail loan segment after home and vehicle loans. 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 19, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. PhonePe Pauses IPO Plans Citing Market Volatility Walmart-backed PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has put its IPO plans on hold due to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and volatile market conditions. The Bengaluru-based company, valued at approximately $12 billion in January 2023, was targeting a market capitalization of around $15 billion in its planned listing, which could have raised up to $1.5 billion. 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 18, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. PhonePe Shelves IPO Amid Global Market Volatility Walmart-backed PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has paused its IPO plans, citing geopolitical tensions and volatile market conditions. The company, which was targeting a $15 billion valuation, has seen investment bankers suggest lowering expectations to around $9 billion. 1 The Bengaluru-based fintech filed its updated IPO prospectus earlier this year, expecting to raise up to $1.5 billion in what would have been one of India’s largest tech listings. However, escalating Middle East conflicts have rattled global financial markets, with India’s Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex each falling about 9% over the past month. 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 17, 2026 Today’s Top Stories PhonePe Shelves IPO Plans Amid Global Market Volatility Walmart-backed PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has put its IPO plans on hold citing geopolitical tensions and volatile market conditions, according to sources familiar with the matter. 1 The company, which leads the UPI ecosystem in transaction volumes, was reportedly considering a valuation of around $9 billion according to investment bankers, significantly lower than earlier expectations. In February 2026, PhonePe processed approximately 9.3 billion transactions worth roughly ₹13.1 trillion (about $141.9 billion), compared with Google Pay’s 6.8 billion transactions worth around ₹9 trillion (around $97.8 billion), according to NPCI data. 1 ...
Fintech Brief — March 16, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. India’s Neobank Fi Winds Down Banking Services After Serving 3.5 Million Customers India’s neobank Fi is discontinuing its banking services on the platform more than four years after launching them in partnership with Federal Bank. The fintech, founded in 2019 by former Google Pay India executives Sujith Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani, has served over 3.5 million customers and processed more than one billion transactions through its platform. ...