RIL, Google, Facebook to be pitted against Visa, Mastercard; here s how
The consortium comprising Google, Facebook and Infibeam Avenue will likely offer its payment services overseas. The NUE, if granted an operating licence, is going to be positioned against global payments giants such as Mastercard and Visa in some markets
BusinessToday.In | April 5, 2021 | Updated 12:18 IST
The RIL-led consortium had applied for the NUE licence last week
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)-led consortium is planning to take its proposed New Umbrella Entity (NUE) global. The consortium comprising Google, Facebook and Infibeam Avenue will likely offer its payment services overseas.
The NUE, if granted an operating licence, is going to be positioned against global payments giants such as Mastercard and Visa in some markets.
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The bank consortium is led by Axis Bank and
ICICI Bank, with 20% each and co-promoting an entity called MoPay. This consortium also has BillDesk, Pine Labs, Amazon and Visa with 15% stake each, sources directly aware of the talks told ET.
A consortium led by Reliance Industries and Infibeam Avenue has also submitted its proposal Wednesday. Facebook and Google are set to have minority stakes in this entity, as reported by ET in February.
Tata Group has also applied for the NUE licence through its subsidiary Ferbine Payments. It will own 40% in the entity while Airtel Digital, Mastercard and Nabard will hold 10% each. Flipkart, through its subsidiary FlipPay, and Naspers-backed PayU will own about 5% each in the Tata entity. HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will hold 9.99% each in Ferbine.
Synopsis
Paytm’s new umbrella entity (NUE) will differentiate itself from rivals because of its diverse set of consortium partnerships, CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma says.
ETtech
Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Paytm is leading a consortium of IndusInd Bank, Ola, Suryoday Small Finance Bank, Zeta Pay, Centrum Finance and EPS in seeking a NUE licence from RBI. (Illustration: Rahul Awasthi/ETtech)
Mumbai:Paytm’s
proposed New Umbrella Entity (NUE) will differentiate itself from rivals in the race to set up the next National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) because of its diverse set of consortium partnerships with a host of financial services and technology players, chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.
State Bank of India (SBI) has told the finance ministry that keeping the countrys biggest mass lender out of RBIs New Umbrella Entity (NUE) licence race could impede innovation.
“The Tata Group is leading the consortium. Ferbine has been set up solely to apply for the licence to set up a pan-India payments network which can process online payments with a specialised focus on e-commerce transactions. An official bid has been submitted to the Reserve Bank of India,” said a source cited above.
Mails sent to Flipkart, PayU, Nabard and Mastercard didn t elicit a response. A Tata Group spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
From Facebook to Google to Amazon, companies are vying to have a pie of the domestic payments infrastructure that’s forecast to grow by billions of dollars, making India one of the fastest growing and open digital payment markets in the world. Digital payments grew at an annual rate of 55% in the past five years in the country, and the pandemic has further accelerated the shift.