National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) widens its shareholding base
Mumbai: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced the completion of the private placement of 4.63% of its equity shares worth ₹81.64 crores.
This broad basing exercise was done to further diversify and distribute the NPCI shareholding to a larger set of the RBI regulated entities and categories of payment industry participants.
NPCI made an offer for the private placement to 131 RBI regulated entities, out of which 19 evinced interest and were allotted shares in NPCI. With this shareholding expansion, NPCI gets on-board some of the leading banks, new categories of banks, and the RBI authorized non-bank entities. The total shareholder entities for NPCI now stands at 67.
NPCI, a not-for-profit organization, is an initiative of the RBI and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). The company is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology for achieving greater efficiency in operations and widening the reach of digital payment systems.
“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this exercise and the confidence expressed in NPCI’s continued growth and larger purpose. With this, we have also broad-based our shareholding to include new categories like Payment Banks, Small Finance Banks, and Payment System Operators in addition to existing Public Sector, Private Sector, Foreign, Co-Operative & Regional Rural Banks” said Rupesh H Acharya, Chief of Finance, NPCI.
ICICI Securities served as the advisor for the private placement. Khaitan & Co, Mumbai, was also associated as Legal Advisor with NPCI in this transaction.
About NPCI:
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. NPCI has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country. It has changed the way payments are made in India through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC Fastag) and Bharat BillPay. NPCI also launched UPI 2.0 to offer more secure and comprehensive services to consumers and merchants. NPCI is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology and is relentlessly working to transform India into a digital economy. It is facilitating secure payment solutions with nationwide accessibility at minimal cost in furtherance of India’s aspiration to be a fully digital society.
