Revolut, a leading global fintech company valued at $45 billion, is gearing up to enter India’s vibrant market. Headquartered in the U.K., the company plans to introduce innovative wallets facilitating both foreign exchange and domestic transactions via prepaid cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This strategic move, slated for launch in the second half of 2025, aims to capitalize on India’s burgeoning demand for digital payment solutions.
Paroma Chatterjee, CEO of Revolut India, outlined the company’s India strategy, stating, “Our vision is to bring the entire bouquet of Revolut’s products over time to India and localize them based on the unique context that India offers and the needs of the Indian market. The first area where we see that a need exists is the entire Forex space.”
Backed by Tiger Global, Revolut established its Indian operations in 2021 and achieved a significant milestone this year with an in-principle approval for a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) license. This distinction places Revolut among an elite group of foreign companies operating in India, “We’re one of the only three foreign companies have been given a PPI license,” Chatterjee noted.
“Customers will be able to open the wallet, make Forex transactions through a card or remittances directly and make domestic transactions through a prepaid card and UPI through the same wallet. The entire journey of setting up a Revolut account is going to be digitized in just 12 steps,” she added.
Despite boasting over 45 million customers worldwide and a significant market share in its home base, Revolut faces stiff competition in India’s crowded fintech landscape. The company will contend with established prepaid and forex card providers, including Niyo, which offers attractive co-branded debit and credit cards featuring zero charges for forex transactions.
“Today you have an average 3-5% markup on every transaction whether it is loading money onto a card or trying to remit money and transfer money for any need overseas. This is something that we are going to de-mark. We are going to be the most affordable forex player in the country, which has been our USP in UK and Europe,” said Chatterjee.
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, prepaid payment instruments, including wallets and cards, accounted for less than 5% of India’s total digital payments in the financial year 2023-24. Furthermore, prepaid instruments facilitated only 12% of international payments made in September, indicating significant room for growth in this segment.
In terms of transaction value, prepaid instruments’ share is remarkably small, with prepaid cards and wallets contributing a mere 0.12% to India’s total digital payments value.
Prepaid cards have traditionally lagged behind debit cards in terms of adoption in India, with approximately 395 million prepaid cards issued as of September, significantly fewer than the 990 million debit cards in circulation. Furthermore, in FY24, prepaid cards accounted for only about 20% of India’s total prepaid payments volume, indicating room for expansion in this segment.
Prior to Revolut’s entry, US-based fintech leader Stripe had ventured into India in 2016 and secured its payment aggregator license in January this year. However, Stripe subsequently suspended services in India due to stringent Know-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations for domestic payment aggregators, adopting an “invite-only” model for new accounts. Despite this setback, Stripe plans to develop the necessary infrastructure to support expanded user growth in India by the second half of next year.
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