The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced plans to build a 5 lakh sq. ft. office in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to consolidate its operations and support its growing workforce. The facility, expected to be completed in three years, will house 5,000 employees and streamline NPCI’s expanding digital payments ecosystem.

NPCI, which manages key payment platforms like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), currently operates from a rented space in BKC and additional offices in Jogeshwari and Goregaon. “There will also be consolidation of staff into the headquarters,” said NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe, highlighting that about 1,000 of NPCI’s 2,000+ employees are already based in Mumbai.

The new facility will cater to NPCI’s increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transaction innovations. “The work being done on artificial intelligence will make it pertinent to have more seats, for which the new facility will be useful,” Asbe added.

In October 2024, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) allotted a commercial plot in BKC for this expansion. The area is a prime financial hub, home to key institutions like the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), State Bank of India (SBI), and ICICI Bank.

Asbe also highlighted UPI’s growing impact on India’s credit ecosystem. “Credit on the UPI platform is growing very fast, with about 8% of overall credit card spends occurring through NPCI’s platform,” he said. RuPay’s gateway now accounts for 16% of credit card spends, with half of these transactions happening via UPI.

NPCI’s upcoming headquarters marks a significant step in its efforts to strengthen India’s digital payments infrastructure, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and innovation in the financial sector.