Financial services firm NTT Data Payment Services India is planning a comprehensive expansion into commercial consumer-facing businesses over the next three years. According to Mint, the company will focus on merchant solutions, direct onboarding, cross-border payments, and eventually small-business lending. The subsidiary of Japanese infrastructure major NTT Data entered the Indian market in 2019 through the acquisition of Atom Technologies and has since worked primarily with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on back-end payments infrastructure. Shinichiro Nishikawa, head of global payments strategy and transformation at NTT Data Japan, confirmed that the company will pursue this expansion through organic investments to strengthen its payments and financial infrastructure business, while partnerships and acquisitions will help enter newer segments.
India currently contributes only a small share of the company's global business due to the zero merchant discount rate (MDR) on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, making payment services difficult to monetise. As reported by Mint, Nishikawa explained that "In other countries, we can get the MDR from the transaction, but here, we cannot. That's why from the overall gross profit and revenue basis, it does not contribute much right now." The company is addressing this challenge through multiple strategies, including expanding into merchant financing where it already offers cash-flow-based lending and credit lines to merchants through its Adaptis platform. The platform, already available in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, has been launched in India with plans to broaden offerings with value-added services such as in-store payments, online transactions and bill payments.
In a significant development, NTT Data Payment Services is working on linking India's UPI with other fast payment systems across Asia through a hub-based architecture. As reported by The Times of India, this strategy could eliminate the need for multiple bilateral arrangements and simplify cross-border retail payments. The company has launched Adaptis - its unified service brand for its digital payment suite across markets, including India and Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. The interoperable network platform has been built on UPI guardrails and will link UPI with other fast payment systems across the country for cross-border transactions.
