NTT Data Payment Services India plans to enter merchant financing and cross-border payments over three years, using partnerships and acquisitions to expand beyond back-end payments infrastructure.
NTT Data Payment Services India, a subsidiary of Japanese infrastructure giant NTT Data, is mapping out a three-year expansion into merchant financing and cross-border payments. The company, which entered India in 2019 via the acquisition of Atom Technologies, has so far focused on back-end payments infrastructure for the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and other clients.
The new strategy has two tracks. One is scaling the existing payments business. The other is entering merchant lending and cross-border transfers. The company also plans to roll out value-added services like in-store payments and online transactions, services it already offers in Vietnam and Malaysia.
Shinichiro Nishikawa, head of global payments strategy and transformation at NTT Data Japan, said the company will use organic investments to strengthen its payments and financial infrastructure. Partnerships and acquisitions will help it enter merchant financing and cross-border payments.
India currently contributes a small share of the company's global revenue. The zero merchant discount rate on Unified Payments Interface transactions has made payments hard to monetize. “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. But we are also trying more services and trying to expand to other areas,” Nishikawa told Mint.
On Thursday, NTT Data launched its Adaptis platform for merchant payments in India. Already live in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, the platform offers cash-flow-based lending and credit lines to merchants, alongside payment solutions. In India, the platform is built on UPI guardrails and uses a hub-based architecture to link UPI with other fast payment systems for cross-border transactions.
“We need to have a loan licence and a non-bank licence for each country. In India, we don't have those, so we're looking for a good partner,” Nishikawa said. He added that lending requires specific domain expertise, making an acquisition a better route than simply getting a licence.
Merchant financing is a key focus across Asia, driven by the digitisation of payments and credit among small and medium enterprises, Nishikawa said. Opportunities are expanding as more countries adopt e-invoicing and other digital solutions.
Take Ueno, director and chief executive of NTT Data Payment Services, said the strategy is about operational automation for clients. “So we won’t just focus on the sales part, but also on the back-end part, and gradually capture (share) in these kinds of transactions.”
What sets NTT Data apart from some peers, Nishikawa said, is that it is not backed by short-term investors like venture capital or private equity firms. The company makes long-term strategic investments. While competitors sometimes seek market share through aggressive pricing, the company’s 15-year experience in other markets has shown that model is unsustainable. “We have already experienced clients coming back to us. So, it is our philosophy that we are here for a long-term relationship and offer a sustainable business to the client,” he said.
Nishikawa is bullish on India given the high transaction volumes, large population and advanced payments digitisation. “That's why we believe we still have room and can get more contribution from the Indian market,” he said, adding that the company continues to invest even though the current situation is “very hard”. The group views the payments business as a “long-run game”, he said, and is comforted by the improving relationship between India and Japan. India is also a key market for parent NTT Data in AI-related investments and technology personnel.
Japanese financial institutions have stepped up investments in India over the past year. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. acquired a 25% stake in Yes Bank, Mizuho Securities took a majority stake in Avendus, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group bought a 20% stake in Shriram Finance. That presence gives NTT Data Payments a natural advantage in extending its domestic relationships with Japanese lenders into other geographies, Nishikawa said. The company is already in discussions with SMBC for business opportunities.
“We collaborate with all the Japanese banks which are there. We being one of the important partners for them from Japan, we get some sort of a preference to work with them,” said chief financial officer Rahul Jain. That includes offering white-label payment solutions to their customers. Lenders are more comfortable working with a Japanese payments company, he said. SMBC, which is integrating with Yes Bank, is expected to begin offering escrow services in about a year.
“It's not easy. Japanese banks expect Japanese quality, not Indian quality. So that's why we are improving the quality to meet Japanese standards, which will be our focus for two years,” Ueno said.
India recorded 142.42 billion digital payment transactions worth ₹1,608 trillion in the six months ended December 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of India's latest Payments System Report. UPI accounted for 85.5% of transaction volume and 9.5% of transaction value.
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