Zomato temporarily halts UPI rollout for new users

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Zomato has temporarily stopped inducting new users on the Unified Payments Interface-based payments application that it launched as a third-party provider in May. The sign-up option for Zomato UPI has been disabled for the past 3-4 weeks, people in the know said. The Gurgaon-based company, which has partnered with ICICI Bank to offer the service, confirmed that Zomato UPI suspended onboarding new users, but said it is available to existing users.

“(This has been done) to incorporate feedback received on the onboarding flow. We will start enrolling new users by the end of the month,” a Zomato spokesperson said in response to a query from ET. In May, when it went live with its own UPI offering, Zomato had said it was launching the service to allow users on its platforms to make payments seamlessly without the need to switch apps.

In addition to paying for online food orders, the company also offers customers the option of making payments at some restaurants listed on the Zomato platforms using various options such as cards, net banking, UPI, etc. called Zomato Pay. In August 2021, Zomato had set up a subsidiary, Zomato Payments Pvt Ltd, to offer digital payment services such as e-wallets, payment gateway services, and others.

During calendar year 2022, Zomato had 58 million annual transacting customers for food ordering, up from 49.5 million in 2021. Zomato’s move to launch its own UPI offering had come at a time when the National Payments Corporation of India, which manages the UPI network, has been looking to add more players to the ecosystem. The digital payments space is dominated by Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google’s Gpay, together accounting for more than 80% of UPI-based transactions.