SBI partners With Paytm As The Fourth Bank For Its UPI Business 

One97 Communications’s Paytm has collaborated with the State Bank of India (SBI) for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments. This is according to a MoneyControl report, which had also previously said that Paytm had partnered with banks such as Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank for a third-party application provider (TPAP). 

A third-party application provider provides UPI-enabled services to customers, enabling it to facilitate transactions through the Unified Payments Interface. Initially, Paytm Payments Bank used to power its UPI. 

However, on January 31, the central bank put some restrictions on the fintech platform. The restrictions were imposed for “persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns,” and they will be applicable from March 15. 

Since then, Paytm has been trying to seek a partnership with banks. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) insists that at least three banks should be partners for a UPI player. 

Recently, Reuters also reported that “the TPAP license approval will come before March 15, and most of the checks have been completed.” The reports also mention the consistent meetings that Paytm has been having with the NPCI. 

On February 23, the RBI suggested that customers and merchants with ‘@paytm’ handles should shift to other banks. Axis, Canara, Yes, and Kotak Mahindra Bank are some of the banks with which Paytm was in talks to migrate merchant accounts. 

Ever since the Paytm fiasco, there has been a sharp decrease in UPI transactions via UPI on the platform. It decreased to 1.41 billion transactions in February from 1.57 billion transactions in January.