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India’s flagship digital payments system, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), has achieved another milestone in FY 2025–26, recording an outstanding ₹230 lakh crore in transaction value through December 2025 — equivalent to about $2.56 trillion. This landmark reflects both broad consumer uptake and deepening integration of digital payments across business and everyday life. UPI’s performance highlights India’s rapid shift toward a cashless economy and underlines the platform’s role as a cornerstone of digital finance infrastructure. Its seamless, instant, and interoperable nature continues to attract users and merchants nationwide. Drivers of the Record Growth Several factors contributed to UPI’s record transaction value: 1. Widening Adoption Across DemographicsUPI usage has grown steadily not just in urban centres but also in smaller towns and rural areas. Simplicity, low cost and widespread awareness have made UPI a preferred choice for peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments and merchant transactions across socio-economic groups. 2. Merchant Integration and Digital CommerceRetailers, service providers and online merchants increasingly accept UPI payments, boosting both P2M (person-to-merchant) volumes and transaction values. UPI’s integration with QR codes, e-commerce platforms and payment links has expanded everyday utility beyond simple person-to-person transfers. 3. Expanded Use Cases and InnovationNew features — including UPI Autopay, recurring payments,…  ​Read MoreBusiness Archives - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups

The idea of a high-speed rail corridor linking Bengaluru and Pune is gaining traction as central and state leaders push for its prioritisation. Although not part of the seven high-speed routes announced in the Union Budget 2026–27, discussions between senior officials — including Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw — have given the proposal a fresh boost in momentum. Strategic Connectivity Between Major Hubs The envisioned corridor aims to bridge two of India’s most important economic and technology hubs: Bengaluru, known as the country’s Silicon Valley, and Pune, a key centre for IT, manufacturing and education. Proponents argue that faster rail connectivity between these cities could transform travel, bolster business collaboration, and attract investment across both regions. Beyond the endpoints, the project is expected to benefit districts in north and central Karnataka, such as Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Haveri, Davanagere, Chitradurga and Tumakuru. Improved rail links could make it easier for residents to access job markets, educational institutions and commercial opportunities in both Bengaluru and Pune. Advocacy From State Leaders Karnataka’s political leadership has actively supported the proposal, emphasising that it deserves priority alongside the corridors already announced in the national budget. MB Patil, Karnataka’s Minister for Large and…  ​Read MoreBusiness Archives - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups

Anthropic Rattles Markets Anthropic’s launch of Cowork plugins on February 4 sent markets into a tizzy. The AI release sparked…

Hello,Quarterly report cards are in for Big Tech and startups alike.Beauty ecommerce platform Nykaa kept on its upward trajectory with its quarterly after-tax profit more than doubling to Rs 67.7 crore year-on-year, driven by strong growth in its beauty business and growing traction for its fashion arm.In fact, the company's largest vertical—its beauty and personal care retail business—saw its best-ever GMV performance, a growth of Rs 4,302 crore, up 27% from last year.Edtech firm PhysicsWallah, too, saw growth in both its top and bottom lines of about 33% year-on-year, driven by an expanding paid user base and strong operating margins.Meanwhile, Google parent Alphabet closed 2025 on what it termed a “tremendous quarter”, with its fiscal revenue surging past $400 billion for the first time, and the company doubling its capital investment in 2026 to drive its AI advancements.It’s a remarkable turnaround from last year, when the company was thought to be lagging behind rivals in the AI space, such as Microsoft and OpenAI.Speaking of OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker just made it easier for organisations to deploy ‘AI coworkers’ across different processes.The company’s new product, called Frontier, allows organisations to build and manage AI tools and simplifies the process of rolling…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

India's digital lending market is growing rapidly, projected to reach $2.45 billion by 2030 from $486.6 million in 2024, according to Grand View Research. However, loan recovery rates haven't kept up with disbursement growth.The collections infrastructure remains fragmented, with thousands of independent agencies using manual processes and limited technology. These methods often don't align with the service expectations of today's digital borrowers.In 2019, Ananth Shroff was travelling abroad when he missed a credit card payment. Unable to reach him on his usual number, the bank contacted his family and threatened legal action. "How can they treat me like this when I paid on time every month? I missed one payment, and this was the situation," he recalls. The experience cost the bank a customer and planted the seed for DPDzero.Shroff (CEO) and Ranjith B.R. (CTO) saw an opportunity to build a unified platform where lenders could integrate their systems, send borrower data, and receive recoveries without managing multiple collection agencies. "If lenders had a platform that they could simply integrate, push data, and money comes back in return, maybe that's how to get India to scale," Shroff says.In 2022, they launched DPDzero to digitise loan collections, with Shroff as CEO…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

IT secretary S Krishnan yesterday reportedly said that the government plans to examine the Economic Survey’s suggestion for age-based access…

D2C fragrance brand EM5 has secured an undisclosed investment from Indian cricketer Suryakumar Yadav. The startup has also onboarded Kumar…

Fashion ecommerce major Myntra is laying off employees as part of a consolidation exercise, which aims to move its Gurugram-based…

The government has expanded the scope of startup definition to include deep tech startups with a recognition period of up to 20 years and a turnover limit of Rs 300 crore.In a gazette notification from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said, “in the case of an entity recognised as a Deep Tech Startup under this notification, such entity shall cease to be a Deep Tech Startup on completion of twenty years from the date of its incorporation or registration, or if its turnover for any previous year exceeds three hundred crore rupees.”This notification comes into immediate effect, but for the non-deep tech startup, the categorisation remains the same, i.e., for a period of 10 years anda turnover limit of Rs 200 crore.The definition of deep tech, according to the government, is that it is working on producing a solution based on new knowledge/advancements within a scientific or engineering discipline or multiple disciplines, which is yet to be developed or is in the process of being developed. It has a high percentage of expenditure on research and development (R&D) activities as a percentage of revenue/funding. It owns or is in the process of creating significant novel…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed

Edtech firm PhysicsWallah (PW) on Thursday reported about 33% year-on-year growth in both its top and bottom lines. It posted operating revenue of Rs 1,082.4 crore in Q3 FY26 and a profit after tax of Rs 102.3 crore, driven by an expanding paid user base and strong operating margins.The paid user base of the Alakh Pandey-led firm expanded to 4.37 million in the nine months to date, with online transacting users at 3.96 million and offline enrolments at 0.41 million.The quarter also benefited from operating leverage as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) climbed to Rs 351.2 crore, yielding a roughly 32% margin, which helped lift the company into profit. EBITDA is a measure of a company’s profitability of the operating business.PW’s revenue from operations for the first nine months of FY26 stood at Rs 2,980.7 crore, about a 31% year-on-year increase, while adjusted EBITDA for the period reached Rs 647.4 crore, a nearly 22% margin. Operating cash flow for the nine months was Rs 642.9 crore, up from the previous full year, reflecting stronger cash generation as the business scaled. The company holds a large treasury balance of approximately Rs 5,054.4 crore, which includes net IPO proceeds of…  ​Read More​YourStory RSS Feed