India’s big banks have long begrudged the big three fintechs—Paytm, Google Pay, and Phonepe—for gatekeeping over 80% of the country’s UPI payments. The irony is that four of those same banks also control 80% of India’s credit-card market. 

HDFC, SBI, ICICI, and Axis banks take roughly three-quarters of every rupee spent on a credit card in India. Everyone else fights for the remainder. So for a small finance bank, competing in the credit-card market was a reach. 

Then, in 2023, the National........

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