Cred processes 75% more in bill payment value than PhonePe, its nearest competitor

Kunal Shah

Fintech credit card bill payment app Cred processes 75% more in bill payment value than PhonePe, its nearest competitor. PhonePe is the country’s largest mobile and Unified Payments Interface platform.

In May, Cred facilitated Rs 52,000 crore worth of bill payments. In contrast, PhonePe processed Rs 30,000 crore worth of utility bills such as credit cards, electricity, Fastags, loan repayments and telephone bills, among others. This is based on data from Bharat Connect, a common platform for all utility bill payments in the country.

To be sure, PhonePe still processes more bills than Cred every month, but thanks to Cred’s position among credit card bill payments, the value is much higher for the bills that Cred handles.

The average value of a bill that Cred processes is worth over Rs 14,000 whereas the value of a bill that PhonePe processes is around Rs 3,000.

However, in terms of bill payment volume, Walmart-owned PhonePe registered 9.3 crore bill payments, compared with Cred’s 3.6 crore bills. PhonePe itself has seen the bill payment value grow by 60 percent over the last year from Rs 18,700 crore it reported in May 2024.

Cred’s entry into Bharat Connect platform

There are no comparable figures for Cred as the fintech was not part of Bharat Connect until September last year. Cred has been the country’s largest credit card bill payment player for the last few years outside of the direct banking channels.

The central bank required all credit card bill payments to be routed through Bharat Connect platform, or earlier known as Bharat Bill Payment System, from July last year. This does not affect settlements made through banking channels or standing instructions (SI) for automatic deductions.

This regulatory diktat forced Cred to become a certified Customer Operating Unit within the Bharat Connect platform in August 2024. From September, Cred has been settling all credit card bills through Bharat Connect as per regulatory requirements.

Bharat Connect platform was established by the Reserve Bank of India to digitise and bring all utility billers under a single platform and went live in 2017.

Before Bharat Connect came, consumer payment apps were linking independently with utility billers such as telecom companies and electricity boards to digitise and facilitate bill payments on their apps.

Cred’s payment platform

Cred started its journey as a reward platform for credit card bill payments. The company has since ventured into UPI payments and a lending platform. It also has vehicle management and wealth tech solutions along with travel and wellness products.

Earlier this year, Cred launched Svalbard, which enables users to pledge their mutual fund investments to secure digital credit lines, expected to expand the lending ambitions of the company.

In FY 24, Cred reported a 66 percent rise in revenue at Rs 2,473 crore, while reducing its operational losses by 41 percent to Rs 609 crore.

Cred is the sixth largest UPI player in the country processing around 145 million transactions worth around Rs 55,000 crore in a month.