Super.Money, a finance company supported by Flipkart and headed by its founder Prakash Sikaria, has just introduced a credit card that features the collaboration. Its goal is to grow its product line to include six other offerings in the next few weeks, focusing on young people who are working in professional fields.
Sikaria announced intentions to pursue outside investment in December 2024, as Super.Money strives to establish a strong presence in India’s competitive fintech landscape, setting itself apart from competitors such as PhonePe.
“Our company focuses on credit before all else, whereas PhonePe prioritizes payments,” explains Sikaria regarding the competition between the two companies.
SuperMoney, an innovative financial technology company supported by Flipkart, has just launched a joint credit card with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, named SuperCard. This exciting new service permits individuals to obtain credit cards with maximum limits as low as INR 90, by depositing amounts as low as INR 100 up to INR 10 lakh.
The service, run by Scapic Innovations that was bought by Flipkart in 2020, has started offering three banking services: UPI services, individual loans through the Flipkart application, and the SuperCard—a joint-branded Rupay credit card.
Nonetheless, the business aims for wider goals.
“Prakash Sikaria, the entrepreneur and CEO of Super.Money, announced during a discussion with Inc42 that six items are set to hit the market within the next few weeks,” according to an excerpt. He further stressed that Super.Money is a standalone business, with Flipkart playing a purely financial role. Additionally, Sikaria mentioned plans to seek investment from outside sources, mentioning, “We’re considering this in December.”
Launched into a beta phase just two months back, the Super.Money app has seen remarkable advancement, hitting a milestone of 10 million UPI transactions and surpassing one million app installs. Sikaria revealed that the team has dedicated more than a year to this initiative, with a major emphasis on merging banking functionalities with UPI.
“We’ve always concentrated on credit-related matters, and we’re expanding into that area with UPI. The SuperCard Rupay card marks our entry into this sector,” Sikaria declared.
In a fiercely competitive finance technology environment, Super.Money strives to stand out by offering a simplified user interface.
“Nowadays, numerous UPI applications are reminiscent of financial institutions due to their complicated layouts,” Sikaria clarified. “Our aim was to revive the enjoyment and ease associated with making payments, through methods like credit cards or UPI,” he continued. He further mentioned that the service is tailored to attract young, wealthy individuals in India, providing a quick and lively service experience.
Sikaria disclosed that the firm is poised to provide fixed deposits (FDs) and credit facilities through UPI, a functionality that was just introduced by NPCI. The company also plans to introduce credit cards that don’t require collateral, targeting customers who are moving from secured to unsecured financial products.
“We’re developing products designed for this growing economy, where minor payments are becoming achievable through UPI,” he mentioned.
Super.Money’s current product line-up includes:
It mainly focuses on young workers between the ages of 20 to 35 who have stable earnings.
“This organization symbolizes the dynamic Indian economic landscape, and we believe they are presently overlooked by financial institutions and fintech entities,” declared Sikaria, detailing the firm’s approach to address a market void.
A major area of the company’s attention is given to providing financing options to individuals who might not meet the criteria for standard credit cards. “A lot of customers, particularly the youth, are not pre-approved for traditional credit cards due to their absence of credit reports. We think that secured loans can bridge this void,” Sikaria elaborated.
In terms of the TAM, Sikaria stated that there exist approximately 100 million credit cards in use, with a user base of 40 to 50 million. He also mentioned that the TAM potential for secured items could potentially be five times greater, spanning a user base of up to 200 to 230 million. “This represents a significant chance, as secured payment solutions are increasingly dominating the market,” he concluded.
Using UPI, ULI, and various credit options, Flipkart’s Super.Money appears to be currently facing competition from its affiliate, PhonePe, which is essentially a separate entity. Both Flipkart and PhonePe are presently under the umbrella of the American retail behemoth Walmart.
In the past month, PhonePe, with 7 billion transactions, captured the majority share of India’s UPI market, holding 46%. Similarly, Super.Money has also demonstrated remarkable growth, logging over 10 million transactions in its debut month.
In the meantime, amidst the NPCI’s suggested 30% market cap cap for TPAPs starting in December 2024, mandating PhonePe and Google Pay to reduce their current market dominance from 46% and 36%, respectively, to just 30%, Super.Money plans to secure a spot as the 5th biggest player in the UPI market by the close of 2024.
At present, the Axis Bank App ranks as the fifth biggest contender, handling 108 million monthly transactions.
Is this suggesting that Super.Money is facing off against PhonePe directly?
Sikaria explained that their objectives vary. “PhonePe is mainly focused on handling payments. Our goal is to position ourselves as a credit-led company, aiming to resemble contemporary financial institutions such as Bajaj Finance or SBI Cards, which are at the heart of financial services.”
Even though Super.Money is presently financially strong, Sikaria has shared intentions to seek additional funding from outside sources. The firm is anticipated to consider pursuing this strategy in December, contingent upon the success of its offerings in the marketplace.
“We’ll discuss the funding amount and its sources after we’ve accumulated additional information and finished our forthcoming stage of product enhancement,” he mentioned.
Supported by Flipkart and dedicated to filling holes in the credit industry, Super.Money is setting the stage to become a major contender, prioritizing the sales of Flipkart users initially.