Adani look to enter UPI, ecommerce, ONDC space with AdaniOne App

The Adani Group is gearing up to apply for a licence to operate on the public digital payments network, the Unified Payments Interface, popularly known as UPI. It is reported that the Group has plans to launch a co-branded Adani credit card, besides foraying e-commerce.

Meanwhile, One97 Communications, which runs PayTm has denied any talks of a strategic investment. It was reported in a section of the media that Paytm founder-CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had a meeting with Adani at the latter’s Ahmedabad office on Tuesday to “finalise the contours of a deal”. One97 Communications has sent a formal denial to the SEBI, as mandated by new rules.

Working out the deal would mark Adani’s entry into the fintech sector as a competitor of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Financial, besides PhonePe and Google Pay.

“India’s Adani Group is in talks to expand into ecommerce and payments, according to four people familiar with the matter, as the conglomerate builds a digital business to compete with the likes of Google and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries in the world’s most populous country,” reported Financial Times (FT), adding that “the group’s politically well-connected founder Gautam Adani seeks to move on from damaging scandals and diversify his empire into fast-growing consumer markets”.

“Adani has become Asia’s second-richest man by amassing a vast infrastructure and logistics network of ports, airports and power,” the FT report added.

COMING SOON FROM ADANI: CREDIT CARD & E-COMMERCE

The latest buzz also suggests that the Adani Group is finalising details with banks to launch a co-branded Adani credit card, sources said according to the FT report.

Gautam Adani’s plans in the near future also includes offering consumers an online shopping facility through the country’s public e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce, or ONDC, sources added. UPI and ONDC comprise India’s digital public infrastructure and provide service to crores of consumers.