NPCI expands shareholder base, raises Rs 81.64 crore from 19 entities

As independent consortiums gear up to launch their own pan-India retail payment networks, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the player which currently dominates the ecosystem, is expanding its footprint.

The corporation announced on Thursday that it has completed the private placement of 4.3% of its equity shares to raise Rs 81.64 crore. It made an offer to 131 RBI-regulated entities, of which 19 accepted, becoming shareholders of the umbrella organisation.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this exercise and the confidence expressed in NPCI’s continued growth and larger purpose,” Rupesh H Acharya, Chief of Finance, NPCI, said following the announcement. 

With this, NPCI said, the total number of its shareholders has increased to 67. The full list of investors includes leading public/private commercial banks, cooperative banks, foreign banks, payments banks, small finance banks, regional rural banks, and various digital payment companies.

The top 10 shareholders hold a combined 78.31% stake in NPCI. This includes Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, HSBC. 

Notably, SBI and HDFC are also reportedly considering applying for RBI’s New Umbrella Entity (NUE) license to set up their own retail payments network with powers similar to the NPCI. The other players vying for this license are Tata Group, Infibeam Avenues and Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Meanwhile, among payment companies, Indiaideas, Hitachi Payments, PayU, MobiKwik, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, Pine Labs, and Transaction Analysts hold 2.5% in the corporation.