Zoho is preparing to launch Zoho Pay, a unified payments interface (UPI) application aimed at India’s consumer payments market. The move marks Zoho’s direct entry into a space dominated by Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm. The product is currently in closed testing and is being built to work both as a standalone payments app and as an integrated feature inside Arattai, Zoho’s homegrown messaging platform. The objective is to bring communication and payments into a single layer while drawing strength from Zoho’s broader business software ecosystem.
Positioning and timeline
Zoho already holds a payment-aggregator licence and runs Zoho Business for merchant transactions. Zoho Pay is expected to extend that stack to individual users. The company has not announced a public launch date, though reports suggest internal readiness for a broader rollout. By entry timing, Zoho is stepping into UPI maturity phase, where growth is driven by retention and embedded use-cases rather than acquisition alone.
Features and integrations
Zoho Pay is being designed to work as a standard UPI app: money transfer, bill settlement, and peer-to-peer transactions. The Arattai integration enables transactions inside chat threads, letting users send or request money without switching apps. This mirrors a growing trend in which messaging and payments are bundled to drive engagement. Zoho can also cross-link its SaaS tools for small businesses, potentially offering one stack for chat, billing, and payments.
Challenges in the UPI market
The Indian UPI market is crowded, incentive-driven, and regulated. Any new entrant must manage user-acquisition costs, compliance, data security, and trust. Incumbents have scale advantages and brand familiarity. Zoho will need to convert existing Arattai and business software users while proving reliability at national transaction volumes
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