UPI App Development Guide: How To Create An UPI App Like Paytm?

What can be better than having a consolidated view of all your bank accounts in one place? Not only a view but a place where you can transform money instantly, delivering the utmost convenience for users in finance management. That is what the Paytm app has been doing. From regular bills to loan amounts, Paytm is a benchmark of success for transferring money using a unified payment interface (UPI).

Looking at the success of Paytm, a lot of business enthusiasts in the fintech industry are actively targeting building an app like Paytm. But since Paytm is a payment giant, there comes the question, of how to create a UPI app like Paytm. And this is what this guide solves for you. We will lay down everything from start to finish you need to build your UPI app from the perspective of an entrepreneur.

Market Analysis of Digital Payments

Before everything else, you might be considering the current trends in the digital payments market. By staying informed about the latest trends and statistics in the market, you are likely to make more informed decisions.

Digital Payment Trends

• Digital Payments Market Trends
• Contactless Payments
• Robust biometric authentication
• Cryptocurrency adoption
• Advance P2P payments
• Digital Wallets
• Buy now and pay later.
• Easy EMI options

UPI Statistics According to the NPCI

• In 2016, only 21 banks were live on UPI; now, as of 2024, 581 banks are live on UPI.
• The value of transactions is nearly 2 million crores.
• More than 13,000 transactions take place every minute.

Talking about the global market for digital payments, by the end of 2024, the value of digital payments is projected to reach US$11.53 trillion.  And, by 2028, the market is projected to reach a value of US$16.59 trillion. This makes it clear that building an app like Paytm to offer a digital payment solution to an audience is a sustainable business idea.

Business Model and Strategy for Your UPI App Development

Another key question that might be on your mind while creating your fintech app is how UPI apps make money. If we explore the business models of UPI apps, then there are few income models from which these apps make money.

Commission Income

UPI apps charge a small fee to make the transactions inconvenient for the users. For example, Paytm charges a commission fee of 1.9% on bill payments and recharges. Similarly, Google Pay charges INR 0.15 per transaction from merchants. You can also plan a commission income on the transactions made by users. However, ensure that you keep the fee competitive.

Subscription Revenues

If you have seen QR codes everywhere and the point-of-sale machines through which customers make payments, then you must know that this is one of the revenue models for fintech apps. For every payment made, the Paytm app charges around 0.20 INR on the Paytm POS devices. For the QR codes, it charges 0.10 INR per transaction.

Data Monetization

Fintech apps collect vast amounts of data from users. But this is done to offer the best possible customized experience to the users. The relevant data is shared with third-party fund providers like Groww, Zerodha, and CRED. These apps show relevant loan and discount offers to the users, providing the right solutions for their financial problems. Not only partnering with third-party apps but also with banks.

For example, Paytm offers SBI bank credit cards for better money management and getting exciting rewards when they pay with them. In return, Paytm monetizes SBI for sharing relevant data.

Considering the strategy and business model, ensure that you have clear, unique selling points. Just copying and pasting everything from looks to working, like Paytm, will not deliver a separate image to your audience. Know this:

“Why would someone adopt your solution if they already have a similar solution to yours?”

Complying with the Regulatory Landscape

Since you are going to build an app that involves the funds of users, it is essential to have insights about the regulatory compliances for building an app like Paytm. When you comply with the guidelines, your users are more likely to trust your app since it has the fewest legal issues.

However, to ensure the regulations, it is essential to hire app developers who keep themselves updated with the fintech industry regulatory landscape.

NPCI and RBI Guidelines

• Ensure your app follows NPCI’s operational and security guidelines covering transaction processing, security protocols, and customer support mechanisms.
• Also, keep an eye on the NPCI guidelines in case they want to audit your app, want any kind of certification, or have changed anything in their guidelines with new additions that your app misses out on.
• To comply with RBI guidelines, ensure that you will protect the data of users, manage the shared transaction limits per user, and comply with KYC (know your customer) norms.
• Another important guideline from the RBI is that your app should not be involved in any kind of anti-money laundering activity and report periodically for audits.

Funding And Investment For Your App

Another key challenge in mobile app development for entrepreneurs is funding and investment. Because there is a good amount of cost included in hiring a Fintech app development company to build a digital product. Here is the key information you should learn about funding and investment in your app.

Funding Options

• Bootstrapping is one of the most popular funding options, involving personal savings and family funds to fund the project. It has full control over business but may limit growth with limited funding.
• Angel investors seek investment in businesses in exchange for equity. However, you should have a great analysis of what you are planning to do with your app.
• Venture capital firms specialize in fintech and technology startups and provide substantial funding.
• Crowdfunding lets you launch a funding campaign in public where potential customers believe your vision directly helps you.
• Government subsidies let you explore incentives offered directly by the government to fuel your startup idea with funds.

Teaming Up to Create Your App

Creating a successful UPI app like Paytm requires you to build a capable and diverse team. The right mix of skills and expertise ensures all aspects of development. If you think that you can make the app on your own, well, you can, but the turn-around time of your app will significantly improve.

Because you have to be a master of designing, developing, and marketing. If you acquire all these skills, you might have to launch your app not in months but in years. So, it is best to team up with a fintech app development company that has talented:

• Project Managers
• Product Managers
• UI/UX designers
• Front-end developers
• Back-end Developers
• Database Administrators
• Security and compliance experts
• QA testers
• Marketing experts

Yes, many people from different roles and in different quantities are required to complete your development. But, an app development agency does it all for you since they have in-house experts sitting under the roof with a high level of creativity and reliability.

Creating A Fintech App Like Paytm

Once you have shortlisted and selected the right app development agency, there are some key discussions you have to have with your team. These key discussions include:

Key Features To Include In Your App

• Money Transfer feature to ensure seamless peer-to-peer merchant transactions using mobile numbers, UPI IDs, and QR codes
• Bill Payments and Recharge features allow users to pay utility bills
• Third-party features to integrate if you plan to partner with service providers to offer diverse financial features
• Account Management features allow users to link multiple bank accounts securely with easy access to account balances and UPI PIN management.
• Notification and Alert features enhance the user experience and let them stay updated with payment reminders and promotional offers.

Minimum Viable Product Development

Another great element in the development phase of your app can be building a minimum viable product to test your idea. In order to achieve this, identify the essential features that address core user needs that you will deploy in your app. Make sure that the core features align with the scope of your MVP. Additionally, while you test your MVP by distributing it to the users, keep collecting, analyzing, and applying the user feedback.

Wondering what is the cost of building a minimum viable product for your fintech app idea?

Read our detailed guide on MVP Development Cost

User Experience And Interface Design

While you plan your user experience, here are some key tips to ensure the maximum success of your app.

• Invest in understanding the needs, preferences, and behavior of your app’s target audience to achieve a user-centric design.
• Design rough mockups that you can share with your designer’s team so that they can have a deeper and clearer picture of what you want.
• Plan consistency in your design to deliver a dedicated brand image of your business, helping users to recognize you easily.

Pick The Right Technology Stack.

A technology stack is the set of tools and technology sets utilized in your app development process. Here are some tips to pick the right tech stack for your UPI app development, like Paytm.

• Select the technology that supports scalability and sustainable performance to handle the growing user base and transaction volume.
• Consider solutions that are rich in terms of cloud infrastructure for a seamless user experience.
• Discuss the development cost profoundly with your app development partner, with a detailed discussion on the maintenance and support requirements.
• Ensure that the technology has strong standards for security and compliance.

Marketing And User Acquisition Strategy

To make your fintech app like Paytm a success, you require an effective go-to-market strategy that ensures the essential success of your product. To give you an overview, here are the things you have to keep in mind to build the marketing and user acceptance strategy.

Pre-Launch Marketing Strategies

• Conduct market research to better understand your target audience at the current moment.
• Identify key demographics and patterns to customize your marketing campaigns effectively.
• Deliver teaser campaigns to generate buzz and excitement about your new fintech app.
• Use social media for your benefit, where you share sneak peeks and build anticipation among the target audience about your app.

Marketing Strategies At Launch

• Collaborate with influencers and industry experts who have a loyal and supportive audience to reach a wider audience with your app.
• Establish a strong presence on popular and relevant social media channels. Currently, Instagram and LinkedIn are two of the channels that cater to a general and professional audience, respectively.
• Optimize app store content by researching keywords and adding them to your content that aligns with the user’s mindset.
• Embed positive reviews and ratings from users with high-quality graphics of your app.
• Start referral programs and incentives at the beginning, just like other UPI payment apps started when they were new. However, do not shut them off after you become established.

Customer Support And Maintenance Planning

Be sure that you have a proper plan to deliver the right customer support and maintenance for your app. It is very vital for the long-term success and reliability of your app. And how do you do it? Here are some steps to ensure that you create an app like Paytm.

• Allow your customers to reach you through multiple channels, like in-app chat (by developing a chatbot), email, phone, and social media.

If you are wondering about the cost of integrating chatbots into your fintech app, you can read our detailed guide about chatbot development costs.

• Be sure to provide your customers with the desired response in the right time frame.
• Keep communicating with your users about the new updates in case they face any issues.
• Make sure that your app stays updated with the introduction of new features, functionalities, and security standards.

Long-Term Growth and Expansion

Finally, to sustain, there comes the right long-term growth and expansion strategy that you can apply. Let us focus on these strategies.

• Innovate your fintech UPI app like Paytm continuously by introducing the most modern features.
• Keep expanding the departments in your app, like loans, insurance, and investment options.
• Technological advancements, where you keep your app built with the most modern technology, ensuring maximum performance and user-friendly design
• Explore new markets geographically, but ensure that your app meets the local regulatory requirements of the region you plan to expand to.
• Partner with more banks and financial institutions to keep offering your customers the smoothest experience.

Wrapping Up

Building a UPI app like PayTm by partnering with a digital transformation company is undoubtedly a rewarding venture idea. However, it actively requires careful planning, strategy execution, and continuous innovation. If we can suggest one key takeaway from the article, ensure your vision and strategy with compliance and partnership. And do not forget to plan your long-term growth with continuous innovation and exploration of new markets as a major part of achieving sustainable growth.