UPI, cards, cash will coexist in evolving payment landscape: Mastercards Gautam Aggarwal

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]October 8 (ANI): In the rapidly evolving payment environment, UPI, cards and even cash will continue to coexist, each serving different consumer needs, Gautam Aggarwal, Divisional Head, South Asia and Country Corporate Officer, India, said on Wednesday.

Speaking to ANI at the Global Fintech Fest, Aggarwal said, “My perspective on the co-existence of UPI and Mastercard is that card rails and payment rails other than cards have a role to play. They all have a different role. Cash may continue to remain in the system. UPI will continue to remain in the system. Cards will remain in the system. They will all coexist. Users will find which payment rail works best for them.” (GFF)2025 in Mumbai.

“We have been in this country for 40 years… India is a very important market for us. We have approximately 10 thousand people in this country. We are making many developments for the world in India,” he added.

On the investment front, Aggarwal highlighted Mastercard’s early role in supporting fintech success stories.

“We were one of the early investors in Razorpay almost 10, 11 years ago. Then maybe three, four years ago we took a stake in Pine Labs. There were a few others along the way like Mu Sigma and others… We’ve probably invested in about 10-11 companies in India alone.”

He noted that these investments were made both directly and through the Mastercard Startup Pathway Program, and that they were “selective in their minority investments” aligned with the company’s broader business goals.

Regarding GFF, Aggarwal noted that it has evolved from “an emerging platform showing India’s role to the world” to now a platform that allows smaller fintechs to “show the world how it’s done.”

PhonePe Payment Gateway (PhonePe PG) announced a strategic collaboration with Mastercard, a global technology company in the payment industry, to launch its Device Tokenization solution.

Announced at Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, the initiative brings Mastercard’s network tokenization capability to PhonePe PG’s merchant platform, expanding secure payment options for online businesses. (MOMENT)