India’s free digital payments revolution has transformed how money moves, but it has not changed how fintech companies generate profit. Now, Flipkart’s fintech arm, Super.money, is partnering with Kotak811, the digital offering of Kotak Mahindra Bank, to address this. Their collaboration bundles UPI payments, savings, and secured credit into a single account designed to convert user engagement into revenue.
The partnership aims to issue approximately 2 million secured credit cards within the next 12 months, with about 60 percent going to first-time borrowers. Their goal is to reach 5 million cards within two years. Super.money, which already serves 10 million active users, expects this alliance with Kotak to contribute around 10 percent of its revenue next year as it works toward profitability by 2026.
India’s Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, backed by the government, has made instant bank transfers free and widespread, processing over 19 billion transactions each month. This success, however, has left little room for fintechs to profit because regulators do not allow the merchant fees that typically fund rewards and credit programs. Super.money’s strategy uses a secured card and savings account to reintroduce incentives, offering a model for building viable businesses on top of no-fee payment systems.
The company’s chief executive stated that their use of UPI is not just for payments but to build a cross-financial services platform that acquires and retains customers.
Launched in June 2024 as Walmart-owned Flipkart’s latest fintech venture, Super.money is already generating about $3 million in monthly revenue, with an annualized run rate of roughly $36 million. The fintech app has become one of India’s top five UPI platforms, processing more than 200 million transactions monthly for four consecutive months through August.
Approximately 80 percent of Super.money’s revenue comes from personal loans, 10 percent from credit cards, and the remaining 10 percent from payment products like bill payments and recharges. The company retains about 85 percent of its users, with 60 to 70 percent of transactions coming from customers under 30 years old.
The executive explained that Super.money’s business model relies on two monetization engines. The first is financial services, including personal loans, cards, and deposits. The second is commerce, where the company aims to introduce a Klarna-style ‘pay-in-three’ model, creating a financial overlay that lets customers buy now and pay later within its ecosystem.
The partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank, India’s fourth-largest lender by market capitalization, provides Super.money with access to a large, regulated banking infrastructure. This follows an earlier partnership with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank to offer secured cards, marking the fintech’s move into mainstream retail banking.
The collaboration introduces a “3 in 1 Super Account” that combines a savings account, UPI payments, and a fixed-deposit-backed secured credit card. This product is aimed at expanding credit access for first-time borrowers.
To open this account, users must make a fixed deposit of at least 1,000 rupees, or about 11 dollars. The account earns interest on the deposit and offers cashback on every transaction. It also includes a UPI-on-credit feature, which is a credit line backed by the deposit and requires no income proof.
Secured cards were chosen as the anchor product because they function within India’s zero-fee UPI system while still enabling the rewards and cashbacks the platform was not originally designed to support. The company’s focus is on users who are more likely to engage with its financial products, using UPI as the core engagement tool.
This new partnership follows Super.money’s recent collaboration with SoftBank-backed Juspay to launch a one-click checkout experience for online merchants, primarily targeting direct-to-consumer brands. About 1,000 merchants already use this solution, and the company plans to expand this network through partnerships with more D2C players and other companies within the Flipkart group.
The secured card generates merchant discount revenue on transactions, which funds the cashback program. The company also charges the partner bank a standard acquisition fee, which serves as another source of monetization.
Super.money plans to issue about 200,000 secured cards per month through its partnership with Kotak before expanding to other banks.
To date, Flipkart has invested approximately $50 million in Super.money to start its operations. As the business grows, the fintech plans to raise additional capital, potentially from external investors. The company needs more capital for at least a couple of years and will soon formulate its capital-raise strategy. While the executive did not specify whether the next round would come from Flipkart or outside, he noted significant inbound interest from many investors.
The company is currently maintaining a low cash burn, described as a low single-digit million number per month. Super.money is deliberately focusing on India’s top 10 to 30 million users rather than competing with mass-market payment players that target hundreds of millions. The goal is to build a formidable secured card franchise with a profitable structure for the company, its bank partners, and its customers.