ACI Worldwide recently announced it is making a strategic investment in Mumbai-based Mindgate Solutions, India’s leading digital payments company as well as the country’s market leader in processing UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions. The financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
As part of this investment, ACI and Mindgate will deliver a joint real-time payments solution that will combine ACI’s proven Universal Payments software solutions with Mindgate’s digital overlay services. The advanced, end-to-end real-time payments solution will be offered to banks, financial intermediaries and merchants in India and other international markets via an on-premise, public cloud or hosted model. This investment will also provide Mindgate with the ability to expand its footprint globally.
UPI is a mobile-based, real-time payments platform in India developed and managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI enables all bank account holders in India (of banks participating in the UPI scheme) to send and receive money from their smartphones with a single, simple identifier. UPI can be used for Person-to-Person (P2P) payments and Consumer to Business (C2B) payments.
“Since its launch by NPCI in 2016, UPI has achieved incredible growth due to its ease-of-use and convenience,” said AP Hota, former CEO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and industry thought leader. “Indeed, India is leading the global real-time and digital payments revolution, and we are seeing other markets implementing similar end-to-end solutions to drive payments modernization. The combination of ACI and Mindgate will support the continued global adoption of real-time and digital payments, while helping to drive UPI as it becomes the dominant Indian retail payments method.”
UPI has quickly emerged as the second most common method of digital payment in India. According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the total number of UPI transactions reached approximately 800 million in March 2019, up from 178 million in March 2018. By 2023, experts predict 60 billion UPI transactions annually, accounting for more than 50 percent of India’s digital payments transactions.
“UPI has made India one of the markets to watch for innovation on top of real-time payments infrastructure,” said Kieran Hines, Head of Industries, Ovum. “This alliance positions ACI Worldwide well to support future growth in the domestic market, while also enabling Mindgate to bring its products and experience to ACI’s international customer base.”
Mindgate software processes 30 million digital transactions globally every day, and 70 percent of UPI transactions are currently routed through Mindgate-customer banks. By contrast, ACI has a long and established heritage in India, with eight of the country’s ten largest banks utilizing ACI’s UP solutions for critical payments needs, processing 60 percent of India’s digital payments transactions.
“We have long admired ACI, a real-time payments pioneer with a long track record of success in India and across the world. Our alliance will result in a joint solution that is future-proof, flexible and scalable,” said George Sam, co-founder & business head, Mindgate Solutions. “The combination of ACI’s proven switch capability along with Mindgate’s overlay services, flexibility and agility will empower banks, merchants and intermediaries to fully capitalize on UPI’s extraordinary growth.”
“We are very excited to join forces with Mindgate. Their strong and talented team develops and delivers cutting-edge solutions and services, and we look forward to embarking on this real-time payments journey with them,” said Phil Heasley, president and CEO, ACI Worldwide. “The global real-time and digital payments transaction opportunity is vast, and with the Mindgate and ACI alliance, we are well-positioned to capitalize on this growth opportunity—providing to banks, corporates, merchants and payment intermediaries the world’s leading real-time payments offering.”
