The competition to achieve supremacy in UPI payments in India has recently taken an unusual development. Thanks to the backing from Flipkart, Super. Money has stormed into the top five UPI apps, displacing CRED for the very first time after months, as evident from the latest transaction data for February.

UPI’s Changing Landscape

While UPI has boosted digital payments in India, other players like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and Amazon Pay have been ruling the sector for a while. SuperMoney from Flipkart, which is a cashback-driven and rewards-based model and rather new as compared to the rest, is also gaining a foothold.

Super.money’s Winning Formula

Super.money's remarkable rise can be, according to some insiders, owing to a combination of its cashback offers, detailed reward gamification and integration into Flipkart's vast ecosystem. Instead of just focusing on payments like normal UPI apps, Super.money rewards every single transaction, an attractive deal for the cost-conscious buyer.

"People love rewards, and Super.money has nailed the formula," said the fintech analyst tracking digital payment trends. "It's no wonder they have risen so quickly through the ranks."

CRED Feels the Heat

This progress leads to a competition problem for CRED that builds value around high-rate users and credit card payments. While it is still a premium choice among users, UPI has taken a hit to CRED's market share owing to cash-back driven players. Competitors became fierce as monthly UPI payments crossed the 14 billion mark. The growth of Super.Money indicates a clear shift to an environmentally-induced payment incentivizing effort and requires traditional players to recalibrate their strategies. Could this be CRED's comeback, or is this the dawn of a larger tumult in India's digital payments race? The subsequent months will be critical in defining the next phase of UPI's evolution.