Flipkart Group’s new payments app—super.money—eyes first-time borrowers

Flipkart has rolled out a new payments app, super.money, to enable users to make payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and earn cashback, rekindling its ambition to gain a stronghold in the fintech space.

This comes nearly two-and-a-half years after the Flipkart Group, which owns e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, travel booking firm Cleartrip, and fashion brand Myntra, completed the separation of its payments platform PhonePe, aiming to create two independent entities with Walmart as the majority shareholder of both the businesses.

Flipkart launched its super.money app in beta or test mode in June, and said it has handled 10 million transactions and 1 million downloads since. The app will offer users up to 5% cashback on every merchant transaction and special offers on transactions done on partner platforms such as Myntra and Flipkart.

The entity also plans to launch a credit on UPI offering by partnering with the National Payments Corporation of India’s UPI infrastructure for a co-branded credit card, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Credit on UPI is expected to boost borrowings by individuals, especially with borrowers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities likely to join the realm of formal credit, the company said.

Prakash Sikaria, founder and chief executive of super.money, told Mint the company was looking to draw in first-time borrowers, attempting to formalise credit among users who may not have availed any form of credit yet, including credit cards.

“The TG (target group) we are going after is the one that has not got an unsecured card ever. They don’t have a Visa, Mastercard or Rupay card. If you give a product to someone who has not ever experienced it, they are more forgiving and the adoption is better,” Sikaria said.

For every card issued, four applicants are rejected, offering a sizeable market for super.money to tap, according to Sikaria. The company aims to be among the top 5 UPI players by December, the executive told Mint.

Flipkart Group acquired PhonePe in 2016 to double down on the consumer payments space, marking its third acquisition in the segment after NGPay (Jigrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd) in 2014, and FX Mart Pvt. Ltd, which owned a prepaid wallet licence.

E-commerce major Flipkart launched its own UPI handle in March to offer cashback up to 5% on payments. Super.money, however, will continue to operate independently, Sikaria said, noting that it does not view Flipkart’s UPI offering as competition.

“Everyone has a merchant UPI today. They are all embedding UPIs in their workflows. They are not building a UPI-first fintech player and that distinction will remain. It’s not a competing strategy, it’s a complementary one,” Sikaria added.

Super.money has partnered with several financial institutions to offer financial services. The app is currently available on Google’s Android operation system and is expected to be rolled out on Apple’s iOS shortly.

“We have started with innovating on credit products as it does an important job of introducing millions of Indians to formal credit infrastructure,” Sikaria said.