NPCI BHIM: NPCI spins off Bhima as a separate arm; Lalitha Nataraj to become CEO

National Payments Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has spun off UPI-based payments application Bharat Interface for Money (Bhim) as a separate subsidiary and renamed it NPCI Bhim Services Limited (NBSL).

The retail payments organisation said in a statement today that the aim of the venture is to meet the growing demand for digital transactions in the country and promote financial inclusion.

Former IDFC First Bank CEO Lalitha Nataraj has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Rahul Handa will be the new Chief Business Officer (CBO) of NBSL.

Nataraj was the head of digital partnerships, digital acquisitions and payments at private lender IDFC First Bank. Handa, on the other hand, was with ONDC in his previous stint. He joined NPCI as business head of Bhim in March this year.

The spin-off of Bhim is an interesting development, considering the UPI ecosystem is dominated by two players – Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe. Paytm, the third-largest UPI app, lags behind in terms of market share.

Industry insiders have indicated that NPCI will try to capture a significant portion of the UPI payments market, focusing on the Bhim app. It may also consider building new UPI-based payments and consumer credit use cases through the app.

NBSL will be the third largest entity after National International Payments Limited (NIPL), which brings UPI outside India, and National Bharat Billpay Limited (NBBL), which manages the bill payments ecosystem.