Flipkart Super.money & Kotak811: UPI Payments Now Earn Rewards

India's Digital Payments Landscape: A New Revenue Model

The proliferation of free digital payments in India has fundamentally altered the financial landscape, yet the revenue streams for fintech companies have remained largely unchanged. Now, Super.money, the fintech arm of Flipkart, is collaborating with Kotak811, the digital platform of Kotak Mahindra Bank, to address this challenge.

Bundling Services for Profitability

This partnership aims to integrate UPI payments, savings options, and secured credit into a unified account. The goal is to transform user activity into a source of revenue. Approximately 2 million secured credit cards are projected to be issued within the next 12 months, with a target of 5 million cards over a two-year period.

Revenue Projections and Growth

Super.money, currently serving 10 million active users, anticipates that the alliance with Kotak will contribute around 10% to its revenue in the coming year. The company is focused on achieving profitability by 2026, according to chief executive Prakash Sikaria.

The UPI Revolution and its Challenges

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), supported by the government, has enabled instant and free bank transfers, processing over 19 billion transactions monthly. However, this success has presented a challenge for fintech firms, as regulations prevent the implementation of merchant fees—a typical funding source for rewards and credit programs.

Super.money’s strategy—leveraging a secured card and savings account to reintroduce incentives—provides a potential model for sustainable business practices within a no-fee payment ecosystem.

UPI as an Acquisition Tool

“Our primary objective with UPI isn’t simply to facilitate payments,” Sikaria explained to TechCrunch. “We utilize UPI as a means to acquire and retain customers, fostering engagement with a broader range of financial services.”

Super.money's Current Standing

Launched in June 2024 as Flipkart’s latest fintech initiative, following the spin-off of PhonePe in late 2022, Super.money is currently generating around $3 million in monthly revenue, with an annualized run rate of approximately $36 million.

The platform has rapidly become a top five UPI platform in India, processing over 200 million transactions monthly for four consecutive months through August, as reported by the National Payments Corporation of India.

Revenue Streams and User Demographics

Currently, around 80% of Super.money’s revenue is derived from personal loans, 10% from credit cards, and the remaining 10% from payment products like bill payments and recharges. The fintech company boasts a user retention rate of roughly 85%, with 60% to 70% of transactions originating from customers under the age of 30.

A Dual Monetization Strategy

Sikaria highlighted that Super.money’s business model is built upon two key monetization engines: financial services—including personal loans, cards, and deposits—and commerce. The company intends to introduce a “pay-in-three” model similar to Klarna, enabling customers to make purchases now and pay later within the Super.money ecosystem.

Strategic Partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank

The collaboration with Kotak Mahindra Bank, India’s fourth-largest lender by market capitalization, provides Super.money with access to a robust and regulated banking infrastructure. This follows a previous partnership with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank to offer secured cards, signifying the fintech’s expansion into mainstream retail banking.

The companies are introducing a “3 in 1 Super Account,” which combines a savings account, UPI payments, and a fixed-deposit-backed secured credit card, aiming to broaden credit access for first-time borrowers.

Account Details and Benefits

To open a 3-in-1 Super Account, users must make a fixed deposit of at least ₹1,000 (approximately $11). The account earns interest on the deposit and offers cash back on every transaction. It also features a UPI-on-credit option—a credit line secured by the deposit that requires no income verification.

Sikaria explained that secured cards were selected as the primary product because they align with India’s zero-fee UPI system while still enabling the rewards and cashbacks that the platform was not originally designed to support.

Targeting Engaged Users

“Our focus is on attracting users who are likely to actively engage with our products,” he stated. “UPI serves as the primary engagement and acquisition tool, but we are not interested in serving users who have no intention of utilizing our financial services or other offerings from a UPI or payment perspective.”

Expanding the Ecosystem

The partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank follows Super.money’s collaboration with SoftBank-backed Juspay to launch a one-click checkout experience for online merchants, primarily targeting direct-to-consumer brands.

Approximately 1,000 merchants are currently utilizing this solution, and Super.money intends to expand this network through partnerships with additional D2C companies and other entities within the Flipkart group.

Monetization Through Merchant Discounts

The secured card generates merchant discount revenue on transactions, which funds the cash back offers. “Additionally, we charge the partner bank a standard acquisition fee, which also contributes to our monetization,” Sikaria added.

Super.money plans to issue around 200,000 secured cards per month through its partnership with Kotak, with plans to expand to other banks in the future.

Investment and Future Funding

Flipkart has invested approximately $50 million in Super.money to initiate its operations. As the business grows, the fintech intends to secure additional capital—potentially from external investors.

“We will require further capital for at least the next two years,” Sikaria said. “We are currently developing our capital-raising strategy.”

He refrained from specifying whether the next funding round would come from Flipkart or external investors, but noted that Super.money is receiving significant interest from numerous investors.

Maintaining Financial Discipline

In the meantime, Sikaria stated that the company is maintaining a low cash burn rate, describing the current monthly burn as a “low single-digit million number” without providing specific figures.

He emphasized that Super.money is deliberately focusing on India’s top 10 million to 30 million users, rather than competing with mass-market payment platforms like Google Pay or PhonePe that target hundreds of millions of customers.

Building a Profitable Franchise

“Our goal is to establish a strong secured card franchise with a profitable P&L—benefiting us, the bank, and our customers,” Sikaria concluded.