NPCI BHIM Services Limited (NBSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has named Gaurav Kochhar as its Chief of Business. The appointment is aimed at strengthening the company’s leadership team as it prepares for the next phase of market expansion and growth in digital payments across the country.
Kochhar will oversee critical portfolios within the organization, including merchant acquisition, business development, and ecosystem partnerships. The role requires deepening engagement with commercial banks, fintech firms, and alternative payment players to widen the footprint of NBSL’s native products.
Market Expansion
The digital payments sector in India has entered a mature phase where initial user acquisition is no longer the sole metric of success. Merchant networks and deep institutional integrations now dictate sustained market share. Kochhar's immediate mandate involves navigating this highly competitive environment, where domestic and international tech giants are fighting for merchant billing spaces.
Prior to taking up this position at NBSL, Kochhar managed the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Digital Payments, and API Banking verticals at ICICI Bank. His professional trajectory spans more than twenty years, covering corporate assignments at HDFC Bank, Vodafone, and Spice Communications.
As digital payments continue to evolve, his expertise will help strengthen our ecosystem.— Lalitha Nataraj, MD & CEO, NBSL
This experience across both telecommunications and private banking is expected to aid NBSL in bridging the gap between telecom-based financial inclusion and structured digital banking.
Ecosystem Ties
Speaking on the leadership expansion, Lalitha Nataraj, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NBSL, highlighted the strategic value of the appointment. "Gaurav’s deep understanding of digital payments, combined with his extensive experience in building partnerships and scaling businesses, makes him a valuable addition to our leadership team," Nataraj stated.
The transition comes at a time when NBSL is under pressure to increase the volume of transactions routed through the BHIM platform relative to third-party application providers. While the underlying UPI architecture has seen massive volume growth, the distribution of market share among front-end apps remains skewed toward private venture-backed entities.
Industry analysts note that a senior hire from a top-tier private bank reflects NPCI's intent to operate its subsidiaries with the commercial agility of private fintech players. Kochhar's background in API banking is particularly relevant, as the next leg of digital financial growth in India is projected to rely heavily on embedded finance and corporate merchant systems rather than simple peer-to-peer transfers.
About NPCI
NPCI BHIM Services Limited is a dedicated subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India, established to focus specifically on the operational scaling, product innovation, and market penetration of the BHIM payment ecosystem.
By isolating these responsibilities from the core infrastructure management of NPCI, the entity aims to create a more agile, consumer-facing infrastructure capable of responding directly to market dynamics and consumer preferences in the retail payments sector.
