Axis Bank, a major private sector bank in India, has partnered with Freecharge to launch Credit on UPI utilizing Gold Loans, marking India’s first gold-backed credit line available via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This innovative solution aims to harness the economic value of gold assets, particularly benefiting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), self-employed individuals, and merchants throughout urban and rural India. With Credit on UPI featuring Gold Loans, customers can quickly access credit by leveraging their gold assets. This offering is accessible to existing Axis Bank customers at all branches handling gold loans and provides a fully digital experience for both utilization and repayments, removing the necessity for subsequent physical branch visits after onboarding.
The interest is charged only on the amount utilized, making it an economical option for working capital, business expansion, or urgent liquidity requirements. Payments and repayments can be executed instantly through UPI or UPI QR codes using Freecharge or any UPI application, allowing for transparent, real-time management of cash flow. Munish Sharda, Executive Director at Axis Bank, remarked, “With Credit on UPI featuring Gold Loans, Axis Bank is establishing a new benchmark for secured credit in the digital era. By combining the dependability of gold with the convenience of UPI, we are making instant and flexible credit accessible to customers everywhere. This launch underscores our commitment to innovation and financial inclusion.
We anticipate that this product’s distinctive digital characteristics will facilitate swift adoption and empower customers with greater financial control, reinforcing our position in UPI-linked credit solutions.” This initiative is in line with the National Payments Corporation of India’s recent guidelines that permit Credit Lines on UPI, representing a significant advancement in India’s digital payment framework. It simplifies access to secured credit, minimizes reliance on manual processes, and fosters extensive financial inclusion. Sohini Rajola, Executive Director of Growth at NPCI, stated, “Credit on UPI provides financial institutions with a robust framework to broaden and streamline credit access.
Axis Bank’s gold-backed credit line exemplifies how this infrastructure can make credit access more seamless, secure, and extensively available within India’s digital payment landscape.” The launch underscores the complementary strengths of both organizations: Axis Bank contributing its expertise in credit and customer outreach, while Freecharge facilitates a smooth, entirely digital user experience for onboarding, registration, payments, and repayments. Together, they have launched a straightforward, trustworthy, and widely accessible gold-backed credit product that elevates the standards for digital lending in India.