Zeta says processing around 2 mn transactions a day amid growing demand for credit on UPI products

L-R-Ramki-Gaddipati-Co-Founder-and-CTO-Zeta-and-Bhavin-Turakhia-Co-Founder-and-CEO-Zeta

SoftBank-backed fintech unicorn Zeta said it is currently processing around 2 million transactions a day amid growing demand for credit on UPI products. The firm launched its credit-on-UPI stack in May 2024, helping banks originate, distribute, and collect digitally and it aims to capture 50% of the market with this product.

“We currently have around 50 million accounts transacting with us, and the contracts we sign will help us break even before March 2026 without the need for an external fundraise,” said Zeta co-founder Bhavin Turakhia to Moneycontrol.

“There are so many forms of credit in the market presently. Credit on UPI is a fairly complex concept and there can be varied products that can come out of it. All players including banks and NBFCs are right now in the research phase and are testing out several models out of this. We provide infra for all these players,” said Ramki Gaddipati, cofounder of Zeta to Moneycontrol.

Also Read: Zeta launches software stack for UPI credit line

What is credit on UPI

Credit on UPI (Unified Payments Interface) refers to the integration of credit cards and other credit facilities with the UPI system in India.

Also Read: Credit on UPI: Here’s how it works, and its benefits

UPI is a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that facilitates inter-bank transactions. It allows users to link their bank accounts to a mobile application and make instant money transfers.

In April 2023, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das had announced the introduction of a collateral-free, pre-approved credit line, or borrowing limit, that a user could access from his bank via the UPI platform.

Following that announcement, in September 2023, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)  gave a demonstration at the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) of how this will work.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and the State Bank of India (SBI), among others were reportedly testing this feature among a limited set of users on payment apps such as Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM).

Founded in 2015 by Ramki Gaddipati and serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia, Zeta has raised $340 million from investors, including SoftBank and Mastercard.

The firm's revenue model is pay-per-use for Zeta's tech infrastructure.

“Banks and NBFCs also take our professional services for launching a product and we also work on building that product for these financial institutions. We also help banks service their customers through technology,” said Gaddipati.

Zeta reported a net profit of Rs 22 crore on revenue of Rs 816 crore in FY23, according to RoC data. The firm has raised more than $200 million in funding so far.

“We have raised enough institutional funding from large players that helped us go beyond break-even sometime last year but looking at our contracts we will likely break-even by March of 2026…We may look at raising strategic capital after we achieve some milestones like this break-even and more and there will be a path to IPO post that,” Turakhia said.