MobiKwik to focus on scaling UPI, launch RuPay credit card

Fintech platform MobiKwik is focusing on scaling up the UPI side of the business as well as launching its RuPay credit card to the public soon to drive growth, Upasana Taku, executive director, co-founder & CFO of the company, said. 

“The IPO has given the company access to ₹572 crore, and we have just started thinking about how to allocate this money prudently and smartly so that we can double down on the existing lines of business while also investing in new business lines that will create upside for the future,” Taku said in the company’s analyst call on Tuesday after the company announced its quarterly results, reporting a quarter-on-quarter loss of ₹55 crore in Q3 FY25. This compares with a profit of ₹5 crore in Q3 FY24. 

However, Its revenue from operations increased to ₹269 crore in Q3 FY25 from ₹229 crore in Q3 FY24.

“On the payment side, we are focused on scaling up the UPI business, and to that extent, pocket UPI and credit card on UPI are the two chosen products for which we are trying to work hard to scale up for growth. This is something that we started working on in 2024 itself, and we are seeing strong growth here,” she added.

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Pocket UPI is prepaid payment instruments (PPI) on UPI or pay with your wallet on a UPI QR deployed by any bank or any payments company. PPI on UPI commands a merchant discount rate (MDR), which is a fee that merchants pay to process credit and debit card transactions.

Credit card

Similarly, the company has a co-branded RuPay credit card that is currently in beta on the MobiKwik app and the company expects to open it up to the public soon.

“This rupee credit card will allow us to capitalize on enabling users to use small ticket credit for their spends everywhere on UPI and this is also an MDR generating product,” Taku said. 

On the lending side of credit distribution, the company is focused on balancing its portfolio by adding some secured products and some innovative new products, new commercial models, and onboarding new partners, according to Taku. 

The company also sees early opportunities in the savings and insurance distribution space. “On the savings side, we have a product lens.ai where we have made substantial investments. We are thinking of this product as a way for a digital advisor for the Markets of India, which then dovetails in enabling us to help them invest via the MobiKwik app into mutual funds, fixed deposits, digital gold and several other products that we will add here,” Taku said adding that the company also has the insurance distribution license which it will likely launch this year.

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Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, MobiKwik today offers various payment products such as MobiKwik Wallet, UPI, Pocket UPI, and Zaakpay (payment gateway), serving 172 million registered users and 4.5 million merchants. The fintech startup has expanded into distributing financial products like credit, savings, investment and insurance products on its platform.

Talking about the financials, Taku said, “We have done ₹346 crore in 9-month revenue, which is higher than the full-year FY24 revenue of ₹317 crore. However, quarterly, there is a decline, mostly driven by sectoral headwinds.” 

“We see green shoots, and we expect disbursals will come back to the same level as FY24, which will result in stronger margins and bottom line performance in the quarters to come,” she added.

Also read | UPI ends 2024 on a high; industry bats for more incentives, monetisation

Growing payments business

Mobikwik’s payment business grew 166% in Q3 FY25 to ₹196.5 crore.

“Interestingly, in the nine months of FY25, 73% of the revenue came from the payments business, and in the full year of FY24, it was the opposite where 70% of the revenue had come from the distribution of financial products,” Taku said. 

Although credit product disbursal slowed down in the quarter, the company remains optimistic about the long-term potential of financial product distribution, it noted in a statement. During the quarter, it partnered with Piramal Finance to offer personal loans. The company also scaled down MobiKwik Zip due to lower appetite from lending partners for small-ticket credit products, it said in its earnings presentation. 

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With payments revenue growing, MobiKwik is emphasizing its core business, which reflects a shift in the fintech space where companies are prioritizing steady income streams over aggressive growth at all costs, said Appalla Saikiran, Founder & CEO, Scope, an Invite-only networking platform, which launched a fintech and gaming- focussed venture capital fund worth $45 million last year. 

“Scaling down products like ‘Zip’ highlights a broader fintech trend—moving away from high-risk, small-ticket loans to focus on quality over quantity. Despite losses, MobiKwik’s shares surged post-IPO, indicating investor confidence in fintech’s long-term potential. The market seems to value growth potential and revenue scale over short-term profitability, especially for firms demonstrating strong operational metrics,” Saikiran added.