UPI’s Next Growth Phase: Trust in 10 Countries

UPI has become part of everyday life for millions of Indians. But for the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the next growth phase is less about adding payment rails and more about removing the reasons people still stay away: fear of fraud, language barriers, limited smartphone access and low confidence in digital money.

Trust and adoption are one agenda

At the afaqs! BankFin 360 conference, NPCI chief marketing officer Ramesh Yadav said simplicity, trust and interoperability sit at the core of UPI’s identity. He pushed back on the idea that building confidence and driving adoption are separate jobs. “Adoption and trust, or safety for that matter, are not two different agendas. These are parallel agendas,” he said.

For marketers, that is a useful reframe. Most brands treat safety as a reassurance message added after the sale. UPI treats it as part of the product experience: every transaction either strengthens confidence or gives a consumer a reason to pause.

Every transaction is a brand impression

Yadav pointed out that UPI’s brand experience is reinforced daily, every time someone pays. Google Pay or another app may own the front-end, but UPI powers the underlying transaction. Banks, fintechs, NPCI and other players all contribute to how the experience feels.

This is ecosystem branding rather than a top-down campaign. A shopkeeper telling a customer to pay through UPI can build more confidence than a national ad, because the nudge arrives in a familiar language, from a trusted person, at the moment of need.

What blocks the next wave

Yadav said NPCI is now designing around the barriers that keep different groups away. They include safety concerns, language and limited smartphone access. The response pairs communication with product:

• UPI 123PAY lets people transact through feature phones, so a smartphone is not the only route.
• Conversational payments reduce friction for users who are more comfortable with voice.
• Safety messaging reinforces simple rules: never share OTPs or PINs and avoid malicious links.

Fraud-detection technology, he added, runs alongside awareness work across the payments ecosystem. That is the parallel agenda in practice: the easier and safer the experience feels, the faster non-users cross over.

Why one celebrity cannot carry UPI

NPCI uses actor Pankaj Tripathi in its communication because he resonates in Hindi-speaking markets. But Yadav cautioned that a single face cannot solve adoption across every market. The heavier lift is identifying what different groups need, then solving it through language, distribution and local relevance.

That lens applies to any brand chasing the next cohort. Reach tells people a product exists; removing barriers is what lets them use it. UPI’s global presence, now in 10 countries, follows the same logic. Yadav said the international proposition is less about Indian origin or advertising and more about the ecosystem and problems such as interoperability and real-time payments.

The takeaway for brand managers and founders is clear: build the experience and the network of local advocates first, then let advertising amplify behaviour that already works.

Source: Afaqs!