Zoho UPI App Launch: What You Need to Know About Zoho Pay

In October 2025, Zoho UPI is reported to be preparing a new payments-app offering tentatively named Zoho Pay aimed at both peer-to-peer (P2P) and merchant payments, backed by the company’s broader Indian fintech strategy. While the full official details are still emerging, this move signals Zoho’s intent to expand from software-services into the high-stakes Indian digital-payments market. In this post, we will explore Zoho’s existing payments footprint, what can be expected from Zoho Pay, how it might differentiate itself, what the potential benefits and risks are, and what users and businesses should look out for.

Zoho’s Payments Background

Before diving into Zoho Pay, it’s important to understand the company’s payments credentials:

Zoho already operates Zoho Payments, a unified payment solution for businesses which was launched after the company obtained its Payment Aggregator licence from the Reserve Bank of India in February 2024.
Zoho Payments enables businesses to accept payments via UPI, net banking, cards and integrates with its own finance & operations suite (Zoho Books, Zoho Billing, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Commerce).
Zoho emphasises “native compatibility” with its ecosystem, meaning that payment flows and reconciliation are built into the same platform used for accounting and operations.
This business-payments solution is separate from a potential consumer-facing UPI app. The recent media reports suggest Zoho is now moving into the consumer / peer payments space with Zoho Pay.
The larger context: India’s UPI ecosystem (Unified Payments Interface) is extremely mature, real-time, and dominant for P2P and P2M transactions. Any new app launching with UPI aims to tap a massive market but also faces stiff competition.

What Zoho Pay Is Expected To Offer

Based on quotes from reports and known Zoho strategy, here’s what we know or reasonably anticipate about Zoho Pay:

Key expected features

UPI peer-to-peer transfers: The ability for individuals to send and receive money instantly via UPI (i.e., scan a QR code, use a UPI ID). Reports say “peer-to-peer” is a focus.
Merchant payments: Accept payments from customers and merchants; Zoho aims to provide merchant-side features similar to other apps (e.g., QR payments). The appearance of “merchant payments” in the reports suggests this.
Integration with Zoho’s ecosystem: Given Zoho’s background, Zoho Pay might tie into Zoho Books / Zoho commerce services for small businesses or sole traders, offering a unified payments + accounting experience.
Messaging-app tie-in: Zoho is already known for its messaging app Arattai. Some reports hint Zoho Pay might integrate with or appear inside Arattai (i.e., payments within a chat framework).
Made-in-India / Swadeshi branding: Zoho is riding the domestic self-reliance wave; this can offer trust advantage and government-endorsement angles.

What remains unknown / to be clarified

The exact launch date (reports say “soon” / “in testing phase” for Zoho Pay).
Fee structure for consumers and merchants will the pricing be competitive vs incumbents like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm?
Value-added features beyond standard payment transfers (e.g., savings, splits, UPI Lite, pods, loyalty).
Data-privacy, security and regulatory compliance details though Zoho’s enterprise pedigree suggests strong capability.
Whether Zoho Pay will support full suite of UPI features (e-mandates, cross-border, recurring payments) from day one.

Why Zoho Is Entering Consumer Payments

Why is Zoho making this push? Several strategic considerations align:

Diversification: Zoho is known for SaaS business apps, email, CRM, accounting. Moving into payments opens up a new vertical of recurring revenue and engagement.
Enabling small businesses: Zoho’s traditional customer base is SMBs; a payments app that integrates with its apps could lock in users and provide additional value.
Rise of “super-apps” & embedded payments: Messaging, commerce, payments are converging Zoho may position Arattai + Zoho Pay as a combo, much as WeChat did in China.
Domestic policy tailwinds: The Indian government is encouraging indigenous tech solutions (“Atmanirbhar Bharat”). Zoho gets favourable positioning.
Competitive advantage via integration: Many payment apps focus only on money transfer; Zoho has the opportunity to bring in workflow (invoicing, accounting, business transactions) as a differentiator.
Competitive environment: Despite dominance by incumbents (PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm), the payments war is still evolving new entrants with a niche / differentiator can succeed.

What This Means for Users and Businesses

If Zoho Pay launches as expected, here’s how users and merchants might benefit and what to watch out for.

Benefits

For individual users: A trusted brand (Zoho) entering payments means potentially low-cost transfers, integration with productivity or business apps, and choice beyond existing apps.
For small businesses / freelancers: A payment app that integrates seamlessly with Zoho Books or Zoho’s other apps means less fragmentation (one vendor for payments + accounting + invoicing).
For messaging/social users: If payments are integrated in Arattai chat, users could send/receive money inside a chat environment increasing convenience.
Possibly competitive pricing: To stand out, Zoho may offer lower fees or promotional incentives for early adopters.
Data-free-ing / friction-reduction: Zoho might emphasise privacy, fewer dependencies on wallet top-ups, and instant real-time payments via UPI.

Key things to check / watch out for

Security and privacy: With money flows come risks phishing, fraud, KYC issues. Will Zoho match the security of incumbents?
Network effect: Payments apps succeed when many people use them. Zoho must generate adoption quickly.
Merchant acceptance: For payments to be useful, QR codes/acceptance devices must be widespread. How will Zoho support merchants and onboarding?
Fees and payouts: What are the charges for merchants, how fast are settlements, what are features like refunds, disputes?
Reliability and support: As a new app, users must test reliability, support service, uptimes.
Data access and usage: How does Zoho handle user data, linking with its SaaS ecosystem, opt-in/opt-out?
Competitive responses: Incumbents may offer promotions or block features to retain users; Zoho will need to be nimble.

Competitive Landscape and How Zoho Pay Will Fit

The Indian digital payments market is highly competitive:

Major players: PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm very large user bases and merchant acceptance.
Differentiation factors: ease of use, cross-platform availability, business features, financial services (loans, insurance), deals/incentives.
Opportunity for Zoho: niche focus on business-users + payments integration, leveraging its SaaS customer base; messaging + payments convergence; being “Made in India” may resonate with certain segments.
Risks: incumbents already deeply embedded, switching costs for users are non-trivial, and features or network breadth may lag at launch.

Timeline & Launch Expectations

While full public launch details remain limited, the media reports provide some hints:

Zoho Pay is said to be in testing phase.
Possible tie-in with Arattai messaging app, meaning payments inside chat could be a unique selling point.
Expect an initial rollout in India (given UPI is India-centric), followed possibly by other integrations.
Watch for official Zoho announcements, regulatory approvals (UPI/TPAP/TPP licensing or aggregator role) if required for consumer-facing payment apps.

Risks & Regulatory Considerations

Entering payments isn’t simple, especially in the UPI-era. Key risks include:

Regulatory compliance: Ensuring the app aligns with NPCI rules for UPI apps, third-party application providers, data localisation etc.
Licensing: Consumer payments apps may need specific licenses beyond what Zoho used for its business-payments aggregator.
Fraud & security: One high-profile breach or misuse can damage trust.
Monetisation model: Payments are low margin; to sustain, Zoho may need adjacent financial services (lending, wealth, insurance) or business integration.
Scale & adoption: Without a critical mass, users may not adopt, especially if merchant acceptance is limited.
Competition retaliation: Incumbents may offer aggressive incentives, tie-ins, or restrict merchant ecosystems. Zoho will need to differentiate sharply.

Will Zoho Pay Be a Game-Changer?

Zoho Pay holds significant promise. A “payments app from the Zoho ecosystem” ticks many boxes for small businesses, freelancers, and digital-native users who already use Zoho’s productivity tools. If Zoho integrates chat (Arattai) + payments + business workflows, it could create a strong value proposition.

However, execution will matter greatly. Success depends on speed of rollout, user experience, merchant support, pricing, and trust. In an already crowded market, Zoho will need to lean on its brand, integrations, and possibly niche focus (business + SMBs) rather than simply trying to replicate general-consumer payments apps.

For users and businesses, this is a development to watch. If you are already a Zoho user, adopting Zoho Pay early might offer benefits (better reconciliation, lower friction). If you are a consumer, Zoho Pay may offer an alternative to established apps but you may want to wait until features, network and stability are proven. To know more Subscribe Jatininfo.in now.