Harnessing UPI to Challenge Global Payment Giants: Anupam Mittal’s Vision for India’s Fintech Future

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has revolutionized the way digital transactions happen in the country, becoming a symbol of fast, seamless, and cost-effective payments. Now, Shark Tank India judge and People Group founder Anupam Mittal is calling for India to take the next big step—leveraging UPI to disrupt global payment giants like Visa and Mastercard. His bold message is that India’s fintech innovation is ready to go global and challenge the multi-trillion dollar payment industry dominated by foreign players.

The Rise of UPI: Transforming Payments at Home and Abroad

Since its launch in 2016, UPI has dramatically changed the payments landscape in India by enabling instant, frictionless, and virtually costless transactions. This government-backed platform has empowered millions of Indians to make payments easily, reducing dependence on cash and cards. Its success has even sparked international interest, with UPI integration now expanding to countries like Singapore, the UAE, and France, enabling cross-border transactions.

Anupam Mittal’s recent call to action on X (formerly Twitter) stresses that it’s time for India to push UPI beyond its borders to compete head-on with Visa and Mastercard, which currently charge hefty transaction fees of 2-5% on billions of dollars in payments. Mittal emphasized that India’s homegrown technology has matured enough to disrupt these entrenched players and offer a more cost-effective alternative globally. He urged the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the body behind UPI, to seize this moment and lead India’s fintech revolution worldwide.

At the same time, NPCI is taking steps to strengthen UPI’s security by curbing misuse of the ‘Collect Payments’ feature. Due to rising fraud concerns linked to pull-based payments—where merchants can directly request money—NPCI plans to limit this feature to large, verified merchants and cap person-to-person collect requests at Rs 2,000. This move aims to protect users without compromising the platform’s convenience.

What Undercode Say: Unlocking India’s Fintech Potential for Global Disruption

India’s UPI success story is not just about domestic digital payments—it’s a blueprint for how a country can leapfrog legacy financial infrastructure and build cutting-edge fintech from the ground up. Anupam Mittal’s push to harness UPI as a global challenger makes strong strategic sense in today’s digital economy.

Firstly, UPI’s core strengths—low cost, instant settlement, interoperability, and open architecture—directly address major pain points that global payment networks still face. Visa and Mastercard are entrenched but expensive, and banks often add layers of fees. UPI’s zero or near-zero transaction cost model, supported by government policy and massive adoption, offers a highly scalable alternative.

Secondly, the global fintech ecosystem is ripe for disruption. Emerging economies, especially in Asia and Africa, are hungry for affordable and accessible payment solutions. UPI’s export through partnerships with countries like Singapore and the UAE demonstrates its potential to become a global standard for digital payments. With India’s massive developer talent pool and innovation ecosystem, the country can extend UPI’s reach while also building complementary services like credit, lending, and digital identity.

However, the challenge lies in execution. Competing with global giants requires aggressive international partnerships, regulatory navigation, and robust security measures to maintain user trust. The recent NPCI move to clamp down on fraud shows that safeguarding the platform’s integrity is essential for scaling abroad.

Moreover, India’s fintech push aligns well with the government’s vision of digital sovereignty and reducing dependence on foreign technology. If successfully scaled, UPI could shift billions in transaction volume away from Visa, Mastercard, and banks, saving costs for merchants and consumers globally, while boosting India’s influence in the global financial system.

In conclusion, Mittal’s call is both a rallying cry and a strategic roadmap. India has built a world-class fintech innovation with UPI—it’s time to take that technology global and reshape the payments industry on its terms. The potential economic impact is immense, but it will require bold leadership, smart partnerships, and relentless innovation.

Fact Checker Results ✅❌

UPI was launched in 2016 and has indeed revolutionized India’s payments ecosystem. ✅
NPCI is phasing out unrestricted ‘Collect Payments’ due to increasing fraud risks, limiting it to verified merchants and capping person-to-person requests. ✅
Visa and Mastercard still dominate the global payments market with fees averaging between 2-5%. ✅

Prediction 🔮

With India’s fintech ecosystem growing stronger and UPI expanding internationally, we can expect a gradual yet significant disruption in global payment networks over the next 5 years. If NPCI and Indian fintech leaders execute on international partnerships, regulatory alignment, and security enhancements, UPI could emerge as a top contender against Visa and Mastercard, particularly in emerging markets hungry for low-cost alternatives. This shift could also accelerate India’s rise as a global fintech powerhouse, influencing digital payments standards worldwide.