The Tata Group seeks clearance from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to join the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a third-party payments service provider offering digital payments services. The Tata Group, via its digital commerce unit Tata Digital is in talks with ICICI Bank to leverage its UPI infrastructure. It has also held discussions with another private sector lender as an additional banking partner.

Non-banking platforms like PhonePe and Google Pay have to partner with banks to access UPI. Owing to the technology-focused approach to serve consumers better, non-banking apps have fared better on UPI, taking most of the market share. The Tata Group entering the UPI network is an ambitious online commerce play where UPI payments can improve the shopping experience.